The Presidential Committee on Flood Prevention Action Plan has said that the government was making frantic efforts to ensure that unnecessary instances of flooding were permanently controlled nationwide as part of the FG’s commitment to controlling floods nationwide.
Ali Ibrahim-Dalla, leader of the presidential committee made this known when he visited some flood-prone communities in Yola, Adamawa State for inspection on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
According to Ibrahim-Dalla, the committee had paid a visit to the 1.8 billion cubic metre capacity Kiri Water Dam in Shelling and the Dasin Hausa Dam in Fufore Local Government Areas, both of which contribute to flooding in the communities but said the committee would recommend them for the erection of dykes and additional embankments.
He also said that the water coming from the Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon would be dammed and provided with spill passages to prevent unnecessary flooding.
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“The committee has the time frame of 90 days within which to complete its assignment and submit a report on its findings and recommendations,” he said, adding that the mandate of the committee was to visit the flood-prone areas, identify causes and recommend to the Federal Government some of the remedial measures to prevent flooding.
Earlier, the Managing Director of Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority, Mr Abubakar Muazu, attributed the cause of flooding to indiscriminate human activities such as deliberate cutting of trees, erection of structures on waterways, climate change, vegetative cover, undredged dams, and environmental abuse were some of the factors causing flooding.
Muazu said enforcement of environmental laws and construction of additional dams would help address some of the flooding challenges, adding that about four additional dams are needed to be built in Taraba.
“No fewer than 17 million hectares of land were submerged by flood nationwide in 2022 which is 57 per cent of what happened in 2012 in which 30 million hectares were affected,” the committee chairman said.
Dr Aminu Suleiman, Executive Secretary of Adamawa Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA), said that a total of 180,000 people were affected by flood across the 21 LGAs in the state in 2022.
He said that 70 per cent of crops and farmlands were destroyed, 58 lives lost and 71 injured, with 15 lives lost in Madagali Local Government Area alone.
“The state government has spent N350 million in resettlement and provision of relief to the victims,” the executive secretary said.
He commended the Federal Government for inaugurating the committee, saying it would make a significant impact in mitigating the menace of flooding nationwide.
Story was adapted from EnvironNewsNigeria.
