The European Commission on Friday said it has mobilised one million EUROs (N400 million) to support the victims of the ongoing flooding across the country.
This is just as the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) disclosed that the federal government has released N3billion for flood victims.
The head of EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Ketil Karlsen, said the commission’s funding was to provide shelter, medicine and other basic items for an estimated 60,000 people in three of the nine most affected states.
The envoy, who stated this during a joint press briefing with the Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Maihaja in Abuja, listed the states as Anambra, Kogi and Delta.
He also disclosed that EU has provided technical expertise and detail satellite maps to aid management services.
He however said the Nigerian government must acknowledge the fact that the adverse effect of climate change is having a critical impact on its people.
He therefore strongly encouraged the government to redouble efforts to proactively prepare for future occurrence.
The envoy assured that the Commission would follow up on a clear supervision and monitoring to ensure that the materials are being delivered as urgently as possible to the affected people.
He also disclosed that the European Civil and Humanitarian Aid Organisation (ECHO) has provided 48 million EUROs this year to support the victims of the Boko Haram insurgency in the north east.
On his part, NEMA Director General Mustapha Maihaja said the flooding has displaced over two million people, 199 lost their lives and 307,554 hectares of farmland destroyed.
He said the assessment of the farmlands could not be completed as many of them are still under water.
He added that the number of the affected keeps increasing as the water is creating more havoc as it flows down.
He thanked the EU for the support and assured that funding would be judiciously used.
He said the agency has put mechanism in place to monitor distribution of relief materials to those in need.
“We don’t give our materials to the state governments. We carry out direct distribution to the people. Our officials go to the remotest parts of Nigeria to distribute the relief items,” he said.
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