Flooding problems giving President Goodluck Jonathan some sleepless nights

The after-effect of the floods on victims and communities is giving President Goodluck Jonathan some sleepless nights.

But there was cheery news for the victims as they would not stay longer than necessary at the relief camps.

The President said they would be resettled in their communities once the floods have receded.
According to him, the resettlement of the victims is the primary task of the 34-member National Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation.

The committee, co-chaired by businessman Aliko Dangote and erstwhile chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), was inaugurated yesterday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

It (the committee) immediately swung into action, setting for itself a N100 billion target.
Shortly after the inauguration, the President began a tour of flooded states.

The tour, expected to be in phases, started with Kogi State. Others in Category A are Anambra, Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers.

Other states in the category but not listed in the first phase of the tour are Oyo, Adamawa, Benue and Plateau.

The flood-ravaged states have been categorised into four groups, based on the present assessment.
In Category B are: Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Taraba, Cross River, Edo, Lagos and Imo states.

Kwara, Katsina, Gombe, Ogun, Ondo, Ebonyi, Abia and Rivers are in Category C, while Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Yobe, Enugu, Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Borno states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) fall into Category D.

The President on Tuesday announced a N500 million package each cash of the states in category A and N400 million each to the Category B states, Category C states (N300 million) each and Category D states (N250 million) each.

In a short remark at the inauguration, Jonathan renews his assurance to the victims, saying that the government would do everything possible to ameliorate the impact.

He expressed the hope that within 12 months, the victims would have been resettled to resume their normal live.

The President said: “Let me also use this opportunity to assure Nigerians again that the present administration will do everything possible to ameliorate the impact of this devasting flood on our people.

“We will do everything to cushion their pain, and we have put up a strong team made up of credible men and women who will also help government to achieve this.

“The task of the committee is essentially to raise funds to compliment or augment federal government’s effort to cushion the immediate effect if flooding and the resettlement and recovery of affected persons.

“This is most critical because when people are under stress, they can endure a lot but the floods will surely recedes we believe before the middle of November the flood will go if it is the normal flood we have witnessed before.

“After that what happens to the people that is even what disturbs me more than when people are under stress.
“When you raise the fund, we will be able to see how we can rehabilitate this people. We wouldn’t want people to begin to live in camps, they should be able to go back to their communities and settle down.”

Explaining the reason behind the choice Dangote and Agbakoba a co-chairmen for the committee, and Chief Mike Adenuga as the chief fund mobiliser, the President said the committee has a mandate to raise funds to assist government in managing the victims.

His words: “This is why in addition to measures we have taken in terms of releasing funds to government agencies and directly to state governments to assist in helping to manage this disaster, we feel compel to set up this committee to generate funds to assist government in managing these people.”

Reiterating that the country was facing its own unfair share of the global phenomenon of flooding, the President also said his administration feels terribly worried and sad that these ravaging floods are really affecting so many Nigerians of our people.

“There are so many states that are affected, with 50 to 70 per cent including my state are under water,” he said.