Against the backdrop of predicted nationwide flooding this year, northern governors have called for a collective approach to tackle the menace in the zones.
At a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, Muhammad Yahaya, chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and governor of Gombe State, appealed to the Federal Government to work with the states and regulatory authorities to achieve the target.
Speaking to State House journalists after the closed-door meeting with Shettima, the governors said they were ready to drive the process that will lead to the sustenance of peace in the 19 states in northern Nigeria.
Yahaya explained that the process will change the narrative as well as give room for more development. He said all hands must be on the deck to stop the menace of flooding in the country.
“If you talk of flood from the north, it is either through the tributaries of the rivers – Niger and Benue, that link up the conference in Lokoja and then run down to the Delta ending in Bayelsa to the Atlantic Ocean, and those tributaries as a result of the change in the nature and geography.
“There is siltation, a lot of siltation, and also as a result of poor farming practices and deforestation, the forests and our farms have now turned into a gateway for the desert. So, we must work as one people.
“The problem of flooding is virtually a national issue now; global warming and climate change is affecting the entire globe, and for that, we are strategising. We would not like a repeat of what happened last year to occur again this year. But in whatever we do, we have to be both proactive and reactive.
“We have not acted in the way that we solved all the problems of last year, and this has started. So we need to double you know, we’ll do some little backtracking and move in double loss to catch up with the current trends and do the needful. So all hands must be on deck NiMET, the states, NEMA, and whoever has an interest in the environment and environmental control has to come together and work with the government in order to solve the problem,” he said.
Speaking further, the Chairman added: “As the Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum, I will ensure that we get to the roots of all the problems, and through the support of the Federal government and the various State governments, we will come up with the solutions; things that will trigger positive actions and reactions and very soon, the narrative will change and we will have a peaceful north that contributes to the development and prosperity of Nigeria.”
