Nigeria Content Online

The federal
government announced on Tuesday that it will release N3.8 billion in
relief funds to the five states affected by the flood in recent times.

Ibukun Odusote,
permanent secretary of the Ecological Funds Office, told journalists in
Abuja that Goodluck Jonathan had acted in response to a preliminary
report presented by the office. She said the impact of the flood has
been most devastating in Jigawa, Kebbi, Lagos, Ogun and Sokoto States.
But she said that efforts were being made to control and forestall
future occurrences.

“It got the president’s attention because the devastation is beyond the state and local government,” she said.

Mrs Odusote said
that all the processes involved in the release of funds, were nearly
complete and the funds will be lodged in the bank accounts of the
states concerned before the end of this week.

“The federal
government has done its part and it has been sent to the accountant
general’s office from where it will be disbursed to the states’
accounts,” she said. “So we expect that Sokoto and Kebbi would have
been handled and we are left with Jigawa, Lagos and Ogun.”

Finding solutions

Although the
federal government is still studying effective solutions to the
floodings, preliminary assessments indicate that the problem was
compounded by man-made activities such as blocking of drainages,
obstruction of water ways and the building of residential and
commercial property on flood plains without expert advice.

Mrs Odusote also
said that the office will be embarking on sensitisation campaign to
create awareness on the impact of climate change problems such as
desertification, deforestation, flood, erosion and shoreline which make
flooding worse.

“Although
increasing awareness is occurring on the issue of climate change and
its impact in the country, the time has come for all hands to be on
deck to rev up this awareness for the benefit of our people,” she said.

“Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and can no longer
wait to harness science-based knowledge from appropriate research
institutes.”