by Bosun Awoniyi
LAGOS, July 20 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria has approved some coordinated efforts to curb the incessant flooding that threatens some parts of the nation.
Flooding in the past few weeks had claimed lives in states such as northwest Katsina and southwest Ogun, where at least 50 people died on Monday with houses and other property destroyed.
The Katsina State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) has registered more than 1,500 flood victims in Jibia area of the state as internally displaced persons (IDPs).
Most of the victims were women and children. Some of the corpses were removed from the river and the collapsed buildings.
In southwest Ogun State, about eight people lost their lives while property worth millions of naira were destroyed following downpour on Friday evening.
Willy Obiano, governor of southeast Anambra, told reporters on Thursday that the National Economic Council (NEC) approved the recommendations on flood prevention, mitigation and preparedness presented to it by the minister of environment Ibrahim Jibril.
Obiano said NEC underscored the need to set up a Federal Project Coordinating Unit to comprise officers from the collaborating entities (Federal, States and PCFRR), to be headed by a director.
According to him, the unit is to identify locations for critical actions and realistic cost estimates and implement the flood prevention, mitigation and preparedness program.
He said the council also approved a project cost-sharing formula of 30 percent each by federal and state governments while the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (PCFRR) would pay 40 percent on identified projects.
The governor added that the council approved the recommendation to set up short-term and sustainable way of de-silting major tributaries and canals ahead of the flooding season.
However, the Red Cross Society has urged the Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to deploy its personnel to provide cleaning services for flood victims in the camp.
Its coordinator, Mohammed Ahmed, said this was to prevent outbreak of cholera.
He said so far 1,004 people had registered in the camp and were over-stretching the facilities in Rabiu Primary School, where the majority of the victims were were children.
Nigerian vice president Yemi Osinbajo visited the flood-hit area on Tuesday, saying the government would compensate the victims or rebuild their homes if necessary.
Some of the worst flooding in recent memory happened six years ago in March 2012 when 32 of Nigeria's 36 states were affected, 24 severely. More than 360 people were killed and almost 2 million people were displaced.
The problem of flooding is not peculiar to Nigeria alone.
In 2007, floods affected 1.5 million people across several countries in Africa, including Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Ghana, Ethiopia and Niger.
