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The Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola says it will deploy a nationally coordinated approach involving all arms and levels of government in addressing the ravaging flood in the country.
Fashola disclosed this on Wednesday, October 19, in Abuja at the inaugural edition of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Administration Scorecard 2015-2023 Series organised by his Ministry of Information and Culture.
The scorecard series which features ministers and top government officials is designed to showcase the achievements of the Administration as it winds down.
Before giving the scorecards of his ministry, Fashola said the federal government is worried and concerned about the devastating floods that are impacting many parts of the country.
“It is a very grave matter, very tragic in its human and economic costs…And it is going to require an all of government approach from local to state and to the federal government to deal with it.
“It is going to require an all-nation approach; perhaps something similar to the way we responded to the Covid-19 pandemic where everybody played a role because; really, everybody is impacted one way or the other,’’ he said.
On the part of his Ministry, Fashola said he had deployed all Controllers of Works in the 36 states; to go out, measure, assess, and evaluate the cost of replacement; rehabilitation, and where necessary, restoration.
Further, he said the Federal Government is already in touch with the National Assembly; so that after quantifying the costs in terms of resources, fund allocation would not be a challenge.
“We are mindful of the imminence of the end of the year…The heavy human-on-goods logistics that go with festivity. We want to be in a position to make that as less painful as possible.
“At the moment, there are also places where we can’t do a lot because this is nature; so we have to wait for the floods to recede a little bit.’’
The Minister commiserated with the victims of the flooding; even as he reassured them of government’s commitment to deploy a coordinated response.
The flood has been described as the worst the country has seen in a decade. So far, it has hit 33 states, killed about 600 people, and displaced 1.3 million from their homes.(1st News)
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