Tinubu directs immediate Action Plan to halt flooding in Nigeria

To prevent a statewide flood calamity, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered an urgent Action Plan.

This was announced on Tuesday by Stanley Nkwocha, the Vice President’s Senior Special Assistant for Media and Communications.

During an urgent meeting at Aso Villa in Abuja, Tinubu allegedly made the accusation through Vice President Kashim Shettima.

The President appointed Yahaya Bello, the governor of Kogi State, to head the committee and gave him seven days to submit a report.

The Director General of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency has stated that the situation is not all that dire, but it is always better to be safe than sorry. We can’t afford to take any chances, and the input from the other essential stakeholders is just as important.

The Vice President has remarked that while the situation is not as dire as it may seem, a committee needs to be established so that the report of the Presidential Committee and the comprehensive preparedness plan agreed by the 2022 Federal Executive Council may be harmonized and put into immediate effect.

The North East Development Commission (NEDC), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Federal Government would all be responsible for resolving the flood situation in Nigeria, as Shettima explained.

So that the states may begin preparing for any eventuality, he said, “I deliberately invited the NEDC and NDDC so that whatever resources that NEMA has, they have to be released to the states.”

In accordance with the President’s order, I will talk to the heads of the NEDC and NDDC in the states they oversee. They need to step in and help out.

Taraba, Bauchi, and Adamawa are all within NEDC’s purview. NDDC can handle Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, and Cross River on its own. We would pool our resources and provide aid to states like Ebonyi, Kogi, and Benue. There is an urgent need to adopt the road map since we all have to take on some responsibility.

This news arrives after the Nigerian government issued a flood warning for nine states (Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Delta, Edo, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Taraba) a few days ago.