…Establishes Disaster Relief Fund
Following the recent devastating flood that rocked Borno State recently and other parts of the country, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has set up modalities to re-assess the Alau Dam including other water infrastructures across the country to prevent recurrence.
The council, chaired by President Bola Tinubu, deliberated extensively on the Borno incident, before mandating the committee to develop detailed designs and recommendations for the overall reconstruction of the Alau Dam to forestall a repeat.
Briefing State House correspondents after the council meeting, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Joseph Utsev, disclosed that the council extensively deliberated on the flood situation across the country with emphasis on Maiduguri flooding.
He recalled that in the year 2022, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation had requested increased allocation from the National Assembly and support from the government of Borno State to address the bad component of the Alau Dam to enable the rehabilitation and specific repair of the 38 years old dam.
According to Utsev, “In 2022, there was a problem with one of the components of the dam. The Minister of Water Resources wrote to the National Assembly for allocation of more funds and the government of Maiduguri for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the 38 years dam to further facilitate water supply, purposes of irrigation and flood controls.
“We are now re-assessing the true integrity of the dam to come up with a detailed design for overall reconstruction. We also had a discussion with the management of Lagdo Dam on the release of 100 cubic metres of water that can be released within seven days and the ministry sent a warning to those living along the river valley areas,” he added.
He added that Nigeria joined the rest of the world in commemorating World Rivers Day usually celebrated on September 22.
Members of the constituted committee on the review of Alau Dam and others were the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun; Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Engr. Joseph Utsev; Minister of Agriculture, Food and Security, Abubakar Kyari and few others.
Corroborating Utsev, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, told newsmen that the council established a Disaster Relief Fund.
He explained that the Fund would focus on the financing and bringing together funding from the three tiers of the government, the private sector and the international philanthropic organisations to build a resilient response to climate disaster occurrences across the country.
Acknowledging that the existing relief funds domiciled with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Flood Relief Funds set up in 2012, the minister said that the president directed the set-up of the Fund to mitigate the climate challenges.
“Now we know we do have the NEMA Relief Fund, we even have the Flood Relief Funds set up around 2012 but Mr. President feels we need in this era of climate change.
“We need to build greater resilience in the form of substantial disaster relief funds, separate from agencies that actually intervene physically. This will focus on the financing and bringing together the funding from across the spectrum of the federal, sub national levels and the local levels and clearly the private sectors and international philanthropic organisations,” he said.
He emphasised the importance of pooling funds from various sectors and being prepared when disasters strike.
Edun equally disclosed that the council passed the Economic Stabilisation Bill, which was largely based on the recommendations of the Fiscal Policy and Tax Reform Committee. This bill, he said, would soon be sent to the National Assembly for passage into law.
According to Edun, the Disaster Relief Fund would be a best-in-class fund that would be corporate governance driven, and headed by a top private sector executive.
“It will build for Nigeria a resilient response that is adequate in size, scale, quality and be able to respond in such occurrences as we have had in Borno and elsewhere before.
“This will focus on financing and bringing together funding from across the federal, sub-national, the local levels, the private sector, and even international philanthropic organisations,” said the minister.
He said disaster relief fund would enable the country build greater resilience in the form of a substantial disaster relief fund, separate from the agencies that intervene physically.
He said this would be different from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Relief Fund that was established in 1999, and the Flood Relief Fund set up in 2012.
He said the president believes that the fund had become expedient in the era of climate change, as well as the fact that there would be disasters no matter the prevention measures put in place.
Recall that Tinubu had hinted of the creation of the Disaster Relief Fund on Sept. 16 during a visit to Maiduguri, Borno State, to commiserate with victims of flooding in the state, saying that the fund will assist Nigerian citizens impacted by floods and other disasters.
He had assured that the Federal Government would collaborate with the private sector to establish the fund.
