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NEMA Requests For Probe On Flood Relief Fund

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has demanded that states tender an account of how they disbursed the Flood Relief Fund given to them by … Continue reading NEMA Requests For Probe On Flood Relief Fund


Flood Wreaks Havoc In Katsina, Kills At Least 45
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Flood ReliefThe National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has demanded that states tender an account of how they disbursed the Flood Relief Fund given to them by the Federal Government for flood victims.

The Flood Relief and Rehabilitation Fund was part of an initial 17.6billion naira intervention from the Federal Government, 13.3billion of which was released to the affected states and 4.3billion to Federal Government ministries and agencies in 2012.

The actual disbursement of that fund by states has in recent times raised a lot of concern.

Deputy Director of Disaster Risk Reduction, NEMA, Kayode Fagbemi, told advocacy groups and journalists in Abuja that most of the relief materials during the period were provided by NEMA with little input from states.

Several flood victims in some states, said that they got as little as 200 naira and utilities such as mattresses and blankets.

Some of the victims across different states, including a 46year old man, Joe Ayemoh from the Edo State relief camp, who lost his daughter in the disaster, shared their pains with Channels Television.

Many of them were yet to receive any tangible assistance after their stay at the camps. Some have died, while some who lost their homes were living in despondency.

Concerned non-governmental organisations have also raised their voices over the Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation and their inability to explain the disbursement of the funds, two years after the incident and more than one year after the committee was expected to have completed its work.

The Presidential Committee on Flood Relief and Rehabilitation was set up by President Goodluck Jonathan after the 2012 flood disaster, with businessman, Aliko Dangote, as its Chairman.

In 2012, an unprecedented flood ravaged several states in Nigeria, killing over 363 persons, affecting over 7million people and displaced 2.3 million.