Reps frown at NEMA’S claim of reaching out to 1.4m flood victims

...as agency claims spending N112.13bn on disaster management in 11 years

The National emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said it has spent N112.13 billion from consolidated accruals and ecological fund utilisation on disaster management in the country from 2011 tob2022.

This is just as members of the house of Representatives committee on ecology expressed displeasure with the disclosure by Ahmed Mustapha, the director general of NEMA that the agency reached out to over 1,427,370 persons displaced by the flood disaster across the nation.

Mustapha who appeared before the committee which is investigating the total consolidated accruals and utilisation of ecological fund, said unlike other appropriated finance, balances from the funds are rolled over to a next fiscal year.

The director general told the committee that documents for the 2010 expenditure were not available as they were destroyed during the ENDSARS protests, and police extract to that effect has been obtained.

he lamented that 2022 flood disaster was the worst flood disaster in the history of Nigeria, saying it was far more devastating than the 2012 flood which was hitherto considered unprecedented in the country’s history.

“As predicted, the 2022 flood hit the country with devastating consequences, impacted thousands of communities and wreaked havoc in all the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT. A total of 612 persons lost their lives, 3,219,780 persons were affected, 1,427,370 persons were displaced and 2,776 others suffered various degrees of injuries.

“A total of 181,600 houses were partially damaged and 123,807 houses were totally damaged. A total of 176,852 hectares of farmland were partially destroyed while 392,300 hectares of farmland got totally destroyed as a result of the floods”, Mustapha said.

The NEMA Boss also said the provision of food and non-food items for immediate relief and building materials to facilitate long term rehabilitation of those affected by flood was ongoing.