The House of Representatives wants the Federal Government to ensure prompt execution of flood control projects contained in the 2016 budget.
This followed the unanimous adoption of a motion sponsored by Rep. Mojeed Alabi,Osun.
Moving the motion, Alabi also urged the Federal Government to urgently release money from the ecological funds to states recently affected by flood disaster.
He said the fund will assist the affected states to construct concrete and durable cannals across the flood prone communities in order to permanently arrest the perennial flooding in the affected areas.
According to Alabi, the economic challenges facing the nation has seriously challenged the capacity of flood prone states to solely bear the cost of funding flood control without intervention by Federal government and donor agencies.
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The sources of livelihood of the victims of the recent flood in Osun and other affected states have been terribly paralyzed, necessitating immediate intervention,’’. he said.
He said the intervention can come by way of emergency financial and material reliefs to cushion the effect of the flooding and thereby assist the governments concerned to alleviate the sufferings of victims.
Alabi also pointed out the need to put in place enduring infrastructure that can contain the anticipated massive flooding as recent early warning by some government agencies suggested.
He said that the early warning notice by Nigeria Metrological Agency (NiMet) as well as the 2016 Annual Flood Outlook of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHASA) suggested that 11 states were prone to flooding, with varying degrees of wreckage.
``Osun, Benue, Borno, Niger, Nassarawa, Plateau, Sokoto, Yobe, Anambra, Taraba and Zamfara have already recorded the wreckage.
``The alarming devastation attributed to the perennial incidence of flooding in Nigeria and its suffocating impact on the nation’s farmlands, human inhabitation and source of livelihood cannot be over emphasized,’’ Alabi said.
The House in its resolution urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to fast track the process of making essential relief materials available to victims of recent flooding in the country.
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