In fulfillment of his promise to support States with fund to mitigate the negative impacts of flood, President Bola Tinubu has released the sum of N3 billion to Nasarawa State Government to address flood-related challenges in the State.
Governor Abdullahi Sule, who announced receipt of the fund during the State Executive Council meeting held at the Government House in Lafia, assured the residents of the State that the money would strictly be used for the purpose it was meant for.
The release of the fund was one of the promises President Tinubu made to States during one of the National Executive Council (NEC) meetings in Abuja.
The governor however noted that every single kobo received must and would be used judiciously and strictly for the purpose of mitigating the impact of flood.
“The money has been received by the Accountant General. When I was informed, I called the team together to discuss it. But I think we should discuss it in detail here to accept how to utilize the funds.
“What I asked the Accountant General to do is to create a dedicated account for this N3 billion.
“We want to make sure that every kobo that we spent is accounted for and is related to flood. It will come from the items of people who have some kind of destruction and see how we are assisting them.
“I think that is what the government would like to have. So that even if no state is submitting details of how they spent the money, I want us in Nasarawa to do that”, he said.
Margaret Itake Elayo, Commissioner for Special Duties, Humanitarian Affairs and NGOs, said her Ministry had already undertaken the assessment on areas that would be affected by the floods.
Elayo identified flood-prone Local Government Areas in the State to include Nasarawa, Toto, Awe and Doma but that flood was also recently witnessed in Lafia, Karu, Wamba and other areas.
“Right now we are at the implementation stage of using the resources to make sure that the people actually affected by the flood will be alleviated to a level where they can have a better living arrangement, where we are going to provide food items, and households items pending when the flood subsides, so that we can move them back into their own homes.
“Most of that is to make sure we fix some of the properties that have been damaged and to make sure we provide them conducive temporary accommodation,” she stated.
