Folashade Alli
The Federal Government borrows $700 million per annum from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for the management and control of flood in the country.
Revealing this at an interactive session onboard a Dutch warship HNLMD Rotterdam was the AfDB representative in Nigeria, Mr. Andy Mensah.
Mensah said: “In water management, the AfDB investment runs into about $700 million per annum in Nigeria alone, culminating to about $2.4 billion the bank has spent in supporting the Nigerian government in water development”.
He, however, urged for the participation of the private sector since according to him, the government cannot take full responsibility.
“There is need for public/private partnership because the government cannot do it alone to support and help water resources. Although AfDB has not been directly involved in flood management, it has responded to flood request such as the FADAMA project.”
Earlier, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr. John Groffen, revealed that his country has opened up discussion with the Federal Government on how to tackle flood ravaging most parts of the country.
The dialogue, if well annexed, will ameliorate the issue of flooding that has ravaged several communities in recent past.
The Dutch Ambassador, who held a meeting last week with stakeholders on flood onboard the visiting Netherlands Warship, HNLMD Rotterdam, stated that flood is best managed by both government and the private sector.
Speaking to newsmen after the dialogue, the Ambassador of Netherlands said in fighting flooding, the vast experience and exercise of the Netherlands in the field of water management would come into play.
“As we have battled water for centuries, it is logical that we should share this expertise abroad, in this case with Nigeria. We have already gained so much expertise abroad fighting floods including that at New Orleans and New York after Hurricane Katrina and Sandy respectively.
“In 1953, the great flood in our country was a wake up call which caused the death of 2,000 people and we swore it would never happen again. We want to replicate such solutions in Nigeria without waiting for disasters of such magnitude to prompt us to act,” he added.
Responding, the Director, Water Quality Control, Ministry of Water Resources, Mr. Samuel Ome, said there is the need for real time monitoring of the river system to understand the behaviour of the water and forecast for the future.
Still speaking, he stated that the core job of the ministry is real time monitoring of the river system, forecasting of the future, tackling flooding disaster especially in the angle of health and hygiene, adding that the water quality becomes contaminated occasioned by flood.
