The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA on Monday warned Nigerians that there would be another devastating floods in the country next year if necessary precautions were not taken by government at all levels.
Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Mohammed gave the warning when he appeared before the Senate Committee on special duties to defend his agency’s 2023 budget.
According to him, the early warnings given to the states in 2022 by NEMA were ignored, hence the devastating effects all over the affected areas.
“Let me also use this opportunity to prevail on the committee to intervene on our behalf. We have written to states several times. This flood is still coming in 2023.
“They must be advised early to set up SEMA and local emergency committee and fund them adequately. We gave similar warning last year but our advises were ignored.”
He told the senators that despite early warnings issued to state and local governments whose areas are flood-proned, none of them had taken any positive steps to guide against it.
NEMA also expressed disappointment at the failure of some governors for not setting up state emergency management agencies, SEMA to mitigate the impacts of floods in their states.
Mr. Mohammed explained that the federal government had opened up the nation’s silos, releasing 12,000 tonnes of grains already which were shared to all the 36 states of the federation
The Director General noted that state governments needed to do more in disaster management instead of abandoning it to the federal government.
He told the committee that N774 million was earmarked as capital vote for the agency in 2023 budget, N1.77 billion for personnel cost while N162 million was proposed for overhead cost.
State Accountability
The Çhairman of the Committee, Senator Yusuf challenged the people of the affected states to hold their governors accountable adding that this was beyond the mandate and jurisdiction of the National Assembly.
The lawmakers urged NEMA to make request to the President for additional manpower through the head of service of the federation.
They also stressed the need to review the extant conditions of service of NEMA so that their staff could enjoy a special salary scale reflecting the risk involved in the jobs.
Another member of the panel, Senator Francis Fadahunsi appealed to the states to use the huge financial resources at their disposal, especially the ecological funds to address the environmental challenges confronting them.
They believe that, effective urban planning and proper drainage system would help to mitigate the occurrence of such disasters.
PIAK
