The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved the setting up of a committee to re-assess the integrity of the Alau Dam and other dams across the country.
FEC also approved the establishment of a Disaster Relief Fund with members from government and the Organised Private Sector that will put together resources to combat future disasters in the country.
These approvals were disclosed yesterday by the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, as well as the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, after the federal cabinet meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The move followed the devastation caused by the flood in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, and other parts of the country.
Earlier, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, told journalists that FEC attached serious importance to what happened in Maiduguri and was working round the clock to mitigate future occurrence.
He said the Maiduguri situation was the first issue tabled for discussion at the council.
Addressing State House reporters after the meeting, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation said the committee was expected to develop detailed designs and make further recommendations for the overall reconstruction of the dam for future use.
The minister disclosed that the council extensively deliberated on the flood situation across the country with emphasis on Maiduguri flooding.
He recalled that in the year 2022, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources had requested increased allocation from the National Assembly and support from the government of Borno State to address the bad component of the Alau Dam to enable the rehabilitation and specific repair of the dam.
Engineer Utsev said, “In 2022, there was a problem with one of the components of the dam. The Minister of Water Resources wrote to the National Assembly for allocation of more funds and the government of Maiduguri for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the 38 -year-old dam to further facilitate water supply, and for purposes of irrigation and flood controls.
“We are now re-assessing the true integrity of the dam to come up with a detailed design for overall reconstruction. We also had a discussion with the management of Lagdo Dam on the release of 100 cubic metres of water that can be released within seven days and the ministry sent a warning to those living along the Benue River valley areas.”
On his part, the finance minister said: “We were in agreement with the decision of Mr President to start today’s FEC with the devastating situation of flooding in Maiduguri in Borno State. At the end of that discussion which we started the meeting with, Mr President did direct that a Disaster Relief Fund be set up. We know that there is NEMA.
“The president feels that in this era of climate change and events, from time to time, no matter the prevention measures, there will be disasters that will occur. We need to build greater resilience in the form of a substantial Disaster Relief Fund separate from the agencies that intervene in disasters. This will focus on the financing.
“From the federal, subnationals, local level, private sector and even the international organisations, it will be led by top corporate governance including leadership by the private sector at an appropriate level in order to build for Nigeria a resilient response that is adequate size, skilled and quality and able to respond to such occurrences as we have had in Borno and elsewhere.
“We know no matter how we pray against it, we know this will happen from time to time so we need to be ready.”