The National Administrative Council of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has lamented the failure of the federal and state governments to take action to prevent or mitigate the impact of the floods that have destroyed hundreds of lives, farmlands and properties running into billions of naira across 33 states in the country.
The TUC said on Thursday that the devastating impact of the floods was deserving of emergency responses, saying there was not any commensurate national mobilisation by the Nigerian government.
It said even though agencies such as the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency had warned against the high amount of rainfall in September 2022 which may trigger floods in some states, governments at all levels did not put preventive or at best control measures in place, but rather devoted all energies to political activities at the expense of governance.
“The TUC is shaken by the devastating floods that have once again claimed hundreds of lives, farms and roads and destroyed properties worth billions of naira without a commensurate national mobilisation,” the union said in a statement signed by its president, Festus Osifo.
It said: “TUC insists that such a growing level of devastation ought to have elicited emergency responses in the entire country, which would have saved its citizens the pains, anguish and embarrassment they are currently subjected to. The poor, working people and their families are always vulnerable to the inactions of the government.
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“The congress wishes to commiserate with the working people and their families over these losses caused by the floods which have swept through 33 of the 36 states of the country and have also left schools, hospitals, police stations, offices and infrastructure submerged.”
According to the union, over 40,000 homes have been destroyed and the nation’s food security is threatened.
It said the federal government blaming state governments for allegedly ignoring the letters of the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, informing them of the impending floods was unhelpful.
“What the country needs is a synergy by the three tiers of government to quickly come to the rescue of the displaced by immediately providing temporary shelter, warm clothing, food and medical supplies not just for the immediate, but also to combat the post-flood water-borne diseases that have become inescapable,” the union said.
It said to curtail the floods, the federal government must dredge the river Niger to its full depth potential, so as to form a deep basin to warehouse water bodies coming from Cameroon and the Niger Republic.
“Dredging gives you so much tonnage of white sharp sand for construction and export, if that is done it means we won’t stupidly, insipidly and haplessly be begging our poor neighbours not to release their dams. When you dredge, there will automatically be a reasonable depth for River transportation and multiple wharfs in Lokoja, Onitsha,” the congress said.
It appealed to corporate Nigeria to roll out flood funds of solidarity to assist the victims, and individuals to take initiatives to help those rendered homeless and helpless by the floods.
It also urged the Federal Government to take steps to ensure that the release of water from the Kiri, Kainji, Jebba, and Shiroro dams does not worsen the flood situation.
