Floods: Reps berates NEMA on relief materials distribution, alleges bias

Members of the Nigerian House of Representatives Committee on Ecological Funds have berated the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), for lopsided distribution of relief materials during the recent flood that affected Nigeria.

 

Members of the committee were reacting to the comment by the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, during his appearance before the committee.

 

The DG, who appeared to give details of Consolidated Accruals and Utilization of Ecological Funds from 2010-2022, had mentioned some states that were not flooded as benefiting from the distribution of relief materials during the period.

 

In a swift reaction, Hon. Johnson Ogumah and Hon Adwumi Ononuga raised objection to the DG’s submission.

 

Other members of the committee also pointed out that the ecological fund was different from federal allocation which was free for all.

 

They said that it was wrong for NEMA to send relief materials to states that were not in distress while abandoning disaster affected states.

 

In his remarks, the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed said that as predicted, the 2022 flood hit the country with devastating consequences, impacting thousands of communities and wreaking havoc in all the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT.

 

“A total of 612 persons lost their lives, 3,219,780 persons were affected, 1,427,370 persons were displaced and 2,776 others suffered various degrees of injuries. A total of 181,600 houses were partially damaged and 123,807 houses were totally damaged. A total of 176,852 hectares of farmland were partially destroyed while 392,300 hectares of farmland got totally destroyed as a result of the floods.

 

“During the period, we had to deploy all our available assets including search and rescue equipment and personnel to the field in the most impacted states to support life-saving activities of SEMA’s and other state level partners at the peak of the flood disaster”, Mr. Ahmed explained.

 

He said that Nigeria will only appreciate the magnitude of the damage and losses caused by the 2022 flood disaster after we have completed sector wide comprehensive assessments and Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) to enable us advice government on recovery options for the speedy restoration of normalcy and to safeguard national food security.

 

“I want to use this opportunity to inform this distinguished committee that the 2022 flood disaster is the worst flood disaster in the recorded history of Nigeria. It was by far more devastating than the 2012 flood which was hitherto considered unprecedented in the history of Nigeria”, he noted.

 

He also said that there is no doubt that but for the concerted support we gave to state SEMAs, the level of devastation of the 2022 flood disaster could have been worse than what we experienced.

 

He said that the agency reached out to and responded to over 1,427,370 displaced persons in all the states of the federation and the FCT.

 

“The provision of food and non-food items for immediate relief and building materials to facilitate long term rehabilitation of the impacted population is still ongoing”, he said.

 

Also speaking at the hearing, a representative of the Nigeria Governors Forum, Mrs. Fatima Usman-Katsina, commended the committee and pledged that the forum would continue to work closely with the committee.

 

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Committee on Ecological Fund, Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka, said that it was appalling that most agencies still do not find it necessary to appear before the committee.

 

“Those that we are actually doing our job for who refuse to come or be represented here is at their own peril. There is nothing we can do about that”, Hon. Isiaka said.

 

The chairman was particularly angry with the Association of Local Government Employees of Nigeria, ALGON, Federal Ministry of Health and the Federal Ministry of Niger Delta for failure to appear before the committee.