Buhari approves 12,000 metric tons of grains for flood victims

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved 12,000 metric tons of grains for victims of flood across the country.

Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday during the 2022 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.

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He said NEMA was also sending out relief materials.

He said though the flood in Lokoja, Kogi State, was affecting the transportation of the materials, security agencies had been alerted to ensure the materials were successfully conveyed.

Ahmed said the heavy impact of the flood disaster across the country this year was because communities ignored early warnings.

He said the Federal Government alerted states and local government areas about the dangers ahead of the flood and used risk mapping to identify vulnerable areas that would be affected, but the warnings were not heeded to.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouk, represented by Director, Humanitarian Department, Ali Grema, said the scale of devastation caused by this year’s floods could only be compared to the 2012’s. 

“More than 500 lives have been lost, more than 1.4m persons affected, about 90,000 homes both partially or completely destroyed and still counting. 

“And also destroyed are thousands of hectares of farmland; thus worsening fears of a disruption of food supply in Africa’s most populous country These widespread cases are in 27 out of 36 States and the FCT.”

She urged communities to take climate predictions and flood outlooks warnings seriously, noting that all disasters as local.

“As we reflect on the present flood situation in Nigeria, let’s consider the focus of the 2022 IDDRR. Did we not have enough warnings or was our predictions and flood outlook wrong? Did we not act enough to prevent or mitigate what we’re confronted with today? While we shall not apportion blames, we need to acknowledge the fact that we all had enough warning and our advocacy was timely. We can’t outright eliminate flood but we can keep people safe. That responsibility is collectively ours.”

She recalled that in September, the Federal Executive Council had approved the National Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan developed by an inter-ministerial committee.