TheCable

Sadiya Umar Farouq, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, has called for the harnessing of floodwater for electricity generation.

The minister said this on Monday at a technical stakeholders’ meeting to review the draft national multi-sectoral flood emergency preparedness and response plan.

She added that the 2012 flood affected over seven million people, and remains a significant experience in terms of flooding in the country.

“Therefore, we are advocating an integrated flood management approach where flooding is effectively managed using multi-sectoral expertise, and floodwater is harnessed for beneficial purposes such as agriculture, electricity, etc.,” she said.

“This is to paint a picture of how cross-cutting flood issues are in Nigeria and why we are holding a stakeholder review today.

“In 2012, which is arguably the worst flood incident in the country, over seven million persons were affected, but the federal government is poised to strengthen response and mitigation of disaster.”

The minister, who noted that climate change and poor management policies have contributed to flood increase in the country, said the federal government is working on setting up a national plan response.

“Flooding has also been exacerbated in both frequency and magnitude due to climate change, other humanitarian crises, and quite frankly, poor coordination of the flood risk management cycle from a policy and operational point of view,” she said.

“It is against this background that in August 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari directed this ministry to work with the federal ministry of water resources and other relevant MDAs as well as relevant stakeholders.

“The aim was to develop a national plan that will coordinate various flood management responses and interventions across the country, to reduce the impact of floods.

“In carrying out the presidential directive, the ministry hosted an inter-ministerial committee meeting with the ministers and heads of agencies of over 17 ministries, departments, and agencies in September 2020,” she said.

According to her, the meeting birthed the inauguration of an inter-ministerial technical working group, which had the responsibility of drafting a national multi-sectoral flood emergency preparedness and response plan.

Farouq said membership of the technical group that drafted the plan included officials from the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), and National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).