OSAS EMMANUEL
Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), has called on the Federal, States and Local Governments to urgently find lasting solutions to the flood that is ravaging many parts of the country.
The Director-General of NECA, Adewale Oyerinde, stated that “the consequences of the flood on the already fragile economy and pauperised citizens can only be imagined. The destruction of personal and economic infrastructure has invariably created circumstantial economic refugees. While the cause of the floods remains controversial, the reality of billions of Naira lost and lives prematurely wiped away cannot be denied.”
“The recent flood that is ravaging many parts of the country calls for urgent attention and retrospect from all and sundry.”
Speaking further, the NECA DG averred that “as the citizens grapple with the high inflation rate, high cost of living, increasing cost of gas and businesses forced to operate in an increasingly hostile Regulatory environment, the flood has further compounded the situation, compelling many to migrate from their abode to other higher grounds with various social, economic and unemployment consequences.”
According to the NECA Boss, the economic loss of the flood is massive, highlighting the devastating loss of 100 hectares of rice farm in Nasarawa owned by Olam Agric, worth over $140million, offices and shops washed away, as well as the imminent food and unemployment crisis that these portend.
“Historically, Nigeria has been more focused on post-disaster flood response than control. Reducing and addressing exposure to flood risk should now be a national priority in the government’s disaster risk management agenda.”
He calls on relevant Ministries and Agencies of Government to rally around and support businesses and citizens in ameliorating the loss, while designing appropriate policies in addressing the climate change effects to meet the 2050 UN declaration on global warming.
