Floods: Lawmakers Urge Buhari to Request N100bn Supplementary Budget from National Assembly

•Wants N200bn earmarked in 2023 budget proposal 

•Directs release of N5bn for 36 states, FCT

Udora Orizu in Abuja

Following the devastating effects of flooding nationwide, the House of Representatives has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to make an urgent request for N100 billion supplementary budget or more from the National Assembly as intervention fund for mitigation, recovery and relieve programmes across the country.

The lawmakers also urged the Federal Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Office of the Accountant General`s Office of the Federation to release immediately, the sum of N5 billion into the already created Special Ecological Fund Account of each State of the Federation and the FCT to mitigate the effect of the flooding.

The House mandated its Committee on Appropriation to make provision of N200 billion in the 2023 appropriation bill for the Ecological Project Office in the Presidency for flood preparedness, mitigation, response and relieve packages.

It also mandated its committee on legislative agenda to coordinate a Technical Working Group between the executive and legislature as well as industrial experts and stakeholders to articulate an Action Plan to forestall a repeat of such flood and erosion disaster in 2023 and beyond.

The resolutions followed the adoption of a motion of urgent national importance sponsored by Hon. Henry Nwawuba and Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka, at the resumption of plenary yesterday.

Moving the motion, Nwawuba noted that Nigeria was passing through the devastating effects of floods caused by a combination of factors such as heavy rains, which makes flood control and management a perennial challenge.

He noted that with each passing year, the impact of flooding kept getting worse, with damages to property, dangers to lives of humans and other species, traffic delay, interference with drainage and economic use of lands.

He said the House was aware that in 2022, 33 out of 36 states and the FCT were affected, over 600 people killed and over 1.4 Million people displaced.

Nwawuba added, “Conscious that food inflation, which typically falls during the harvest season, has defied the trend this year, due to the compound effect of flooding and structural bottle necks.

“Informed by the most recent announcement on Monday 7th November, 2022, by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to the effect that the heavy downpour will re-occur next year 2023.”

Adopting the motion, the House mandated its committee on legislative compliance to ensure compliance and report back within one week.