The Senate yesterday urged President Goodluck Jonathan to submit a supplementary budget to address the immediate needs of victims of flooding in parts of the country.
This followed the adoption of a motion entitled: “The menace of flooding in Nigeria.”
The motion was sponsored by Senator Danlandi Sankara (Jigawa North-West) and 27 others.
The senators urged the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to “take steps to de-silt waterways and tributaries which are silted and taken over by shrubs to allow for channels and easy flow of water to contain the ravaging flood.”
They enjoined the “Federal Government in collaboration with other relevant agencies to initiate proactive and preventive measures to guard against future recurrence of flood disasters in the country.”
In his lead debate, Senator Sankara urged the Senate to note that flood has ravaged many states especially those states along the River Niger, River Benue, the Cross River, the Gongola River, the Iyere River and their tributaries.
The Jigawa Senator also urged the lawmakers to take cognizance of the fact that a lot of people have died since mid-July due to the heavy downpour, while property worth billions of naira were washed away by the floods.
He noted that thousands of houses have collapsed as a result of the heavy rains, especially in rural areas, across the country.
He said he was alarmed that in Jigawa State, about 70 per cent of the houses in various communities have collapsed while others were submerged by flood.
Senate President David Mark lamented a situation where there is no Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to respond to emergencies in Nigeria.
Mark said the flooding is a clear demonstration that the country is totally unprepared to tackle any natural disaster like earthquake if it does occur in Nigeria.
He said: “We don’t have a standard operating procedure in this country and again the rehearsal that they were going to do sometimes in Port Harcourt that became a disaster is just a typical example of how unprepared we are.
“What has happened now shows our level of unpreparedness for any natural disaster.
“If there is earthquake, God forbid, in this country tomorrow so many people will be dead.
“The reaction is bad. The reaction time is not there. The response capacity is not there and we will not know what to do.”
The Senate President noted that the rains have been excessive, but said the relevant agencies ought to have anticipated and prepared.
Senate Minority Leader George Akume (Benue North West) noted that the flood in Benue State was unprecedented and devastating.
He said that was the first time he ever witnessed the volume of water from River Benue.
He lamented that River Benue has not been dredged for the last 40 years and appealed to the Federal Government to dredge River Benue to prevent future occurrence of the kind of disaster witnessed.
He suggested that there might be need for Nigeria and Cameroon to collaborate to use the Cameroonian dam for the mutual benefit of both countries.
Senator Gbenga Ashafa noted that last year, there was heavy flood that affected Lagos and Oyo state.
He said Nigerians must begin to appreciate the fact that what happens in one part of the country affects other parts.
Senator Smart Adeyemi (Kogi West) said the flood in Kogi State has not happened in the last 50 years.
He said that nine local governments in the state have been submerged while about 9.5 million people were affected by the flood.
