Flood Prevention: No Excuse Will Be Accepted - Jonathan Warns

President Goodluck Jonathan has warned all relevant public officials to ensure a prevention of the massive flooding witnessed across Nigeria in 2012.

The president ordered heads of all federal government ministries, departments and agencies, MDAs, whose duties are related to flood prevention and control, to ensure that every necessary action is taken to prevent a recurrence of the floods which displace over a million people and lead to the death of dozens according to official statistics.

Mr. Jonathan said this while addressing ministers and other officials at a meeting he called at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Monday. The meeting was called to review ongoing flood containment measures.

Nigeria’s meteorological agency, NIMET, has warned of heavy rainfall in many parts of Nigeria in 2013 that could lead to flooding. The president, however, warned that he would not tolerate any excuses for a repeat of last year’s flooding disasters.

“We have no excuse to be caught unprepared again after the floods of last year,” the president said, adding that he expected all relevant MDAs to be very proactive in speedily implementing required flood prevention and management measures.

The president also directed the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Flood Prevention and Control, which includes the Ministers of Environment, National Planning, Water Resources, Finance, Health, Transport, and Aviation to establish effective liaison with governors of all flood-prone states and ensure that there is proper coordination between federal agencies and the states in the implementation of flood control measures.

He also stressed the need for greater public enlightenment and advocacy to ensure compliance with measures that have been evolved to prevent a recurrence of devastating floods across the country.

A technical team established by the Inter-Ministerial Committee presented a National Climate and Flood Control Framework to the President; which detailed short term, medium term and long term measures recommended to solve the problem of perennial flooding in parts of the country.

NIMET also informed the president that it was constantly monitoring soil moisture saturation across the country since the onset of the raining season, saying that its real time monitoring of weather conditions will enable the agency to give early warning of floods.