The Federal Government says it will deploy a national coordinated approach involving all arms and levels of government in addressing the ravaging flood in the country.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola disclosed this on Wednesday in Abuja at the inaugural edition of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series organised by his Ministry of Information and Culture.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports the scorecard series which features ministers and top government officials is designed to showcase the achievements of the Administration as it winds down.
Before giving the scorecards of his ministry, Fashola said the federal government is worried and concerned about the devastating floods that are impacting many parts of the country.
“It is a very grave matter, very tragic in its human and economic costs and it is going to require an all of government approach from local to state and to federal government to deal with it.
“It is going to require an all nation approach, perhaps something similar to the way we responded to COVID-19 pandemic where everybody played a role, because really, everybody is impacted one way or the other,’’ he said.
On the part of his ministry, Fashola said he had deployed all Controllers of Works in the 36 states to go out, measure, assess and evaluate cost of replacement, rehabilitation and where necessary, restoration.
He said the federal government is already in touch with the National Assembly so that after quantifying the costs in terms of resources, fund allocation would not be a challenge.
“We are mindful of the imminence of the end of year and the heavy human on goods logistics that go with festivity. We want to be in a position to make that as less painful as possible.
“At the moment, there are also places where we can’t do a lot because this is nature, so we have to wait for the floods to recede a little bit,’’
The minister commiserated with the victims of the flooding and reassured of government commitment to deploy a coordinated response.
NAN reports the flood which has been described as the worst the country has seen in a decade hits 33 states, killed about 600 people and displaced 1.3 million from their homes.
