Flooding: 30 years of consistent investment needed to control menace ― FG

Suleiman Adamu, Water Resources Minister

With 612 persons now confirmed dead and 1.4 million displaced in recent floods in the country, the federal government on Wednesday noted that it will take 30 years of consistent investment to control the menace.

The Minister of Water Resources,  Suleiman Adamu, who made the declaration while briefing correspondents on the outcomes of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, affirmed that nobody can stop the phenomenon in the country.

He noted that government can only minimize the impact of the occurrence.

The Minister who spoke on a joint presentation to FEC by his ministry and that of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said despite the early warning system in place, a lot of capital-intensive initiatives remain to be done in future to avert the consequences of flood disasters.

Suleiman said that it is not something that can be achieved under one administration alone.

He said the present administration is already working on a flood management masterplan that will take at least three years to complete.

While noting that flood victims ignored warnings to evacuate, Suleiman also blamed tree felling and degraded soil for the massive impact of this year’s floods in the country.

Also speaking, the Minister of Works and Housing,  Babatunde Fashola, absolved the federal government from blame for not providing temporary shelters for citizens in vulnerable flood plains who said they had nowhere to go.

According to him, it is the responsibility of states and local governments to do that.

He said from an initial assessment, his ministry has identified 154 places where transport infrastructure worth N80 billion is impaired or damaged by the recent floods in parts of the country.

More details to come later…