Nigeria has sufficient data and early warnings to prepare for flooding, but poor use of available funds and information continues to leave vulnerable communities exposed to displacement, destruction of homes and disruption of livelihoods, a former acting Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Air Vice Marshal Akugbe Iyamu (retd.), has said.
Iyamu, who spoke on the country’s recurring flood crisis, questioned how the Ecological Fund and other funds released for disaster preparedness had been used, arguing that the resources should be deployed to prevent flooding rather than respond after communities have suffered damage.
His comments come amid recurring flooding in several parts of Nigeria, with heavy rainfall causing damage to homes and infrastructure and disrupting livelihoods, our correspondent reports from the Arise News interview on Friday.
According to Iyamu, changes in rainfall patterns should have provided sufficient warning for authorities to strengthen flood preparedness.
“The problem with us here is data for us to work with. Over time, the rainfall moved from between 1,150 mm and 1,202 mm to 2,000 mm and 4,000 mm. That’s quite a lot. That should have warned us.
“Between 2023 and 2025, 109 billion Naira was released for the Ecological Fund. What have the states used it for? The Ecological Fund was very, very definitive when pious people brought it on board in 1982. It was 1%. Then it was raised to 2% by President Ibrahim Babangida, and to 3% by President Olusegun Obasanjo. What are they using it for?”
He said the central problem was not a lack of money but how funds earmarked for ecological challenges were directed.
