Flooding: Humanitarian Minister Sympathises With Kebbi Govt, Alerts Other States Of Heavy Rainstorm

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq has sympathized with the government and people of Kebbi state following heavy thunderstorms and floods which washed away five bridges in the state.

According to the Kebbi State Emergency Management Agency Chairman Alhaji Sani Dododo , irrigable, low-lying plains in Jiga community were flooded while surrounding villages had their farmlands and farm products including rice, millet and maize destroyed.

Five bridges located in different parts of the state were washed away by heavy rains. The flood reportedly ravaged through many communities while several villages including Jabbeji and Bagudo have been cut off from the state capital Birnin Kebbi following the collapse of link bridges after the storm.

The Minister described the incident which occurred last week as worrisome after several people were displaced including women and children.

“This is an unfortunate incident and we sympathize with the people affected by the floods. The National Emergency Management Agency NEMA has been directed to embark on rescue operations to relocate the affected persons to a safe location”.

Minister Umar Farouq however restated a forecast of possible heavy rainstorm and floods in six states including Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Nasarawa, Kogi, Anambra, Delta, Edo, Rivers and Bayelsa whose river banks may overflow in September.

She appealed to the Kebbi state government and other states to prepare for the stormy weather ahead.

“Identify high grounds for possible relocation of evacuated Internally Displaced Persons. I also appeal to states to clear all water channels and canals, remove refuse from drainages to allow free flow of flood waters”, the Minister advised.

The State Emergency Agency has already put machinery in motion to setup IDP camps in Ungwan Shayun in Argungu. 400 people are reportedly from the submerged communities while rescue operations are still ongoing in the flooded communities.

The Director Search and Rescue NEMA, Air Commodore Adedokun has already arrived in Sokoto to handover relief materials for flood victims in Kebbi State to SEMA.

Meanwhile, the Minister has approved the payment of stipends to the exiting N-Power beneficiaries under one of its National Social Investment Programmes.

The Honourable Minister stated on Monday, 24th August 20 that approval has been given for the payment of the outstanding stipends for the exited N-Power Batches A and B beneficiaries. The approval for payments for up to the month of June, 2020 for the two (2) Batches has already been forwarded to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGFs) for final checks and payments. The only outstanding approval waiting to be forwarded to Accountant-General’s Office is for the payment of July Stipends for batch B beneficiaries.

The Ministry however noted that about 14000 beneficiaries that were omitted by the AGF’s Office during the payment from March to June 2020 could be among those rejected by the GIPMIS payment platform due to discrepancies identified with their accounts as conveyed to the ministry by the AGF’s office. According to the report from the AGF’s office, any beneficiary receiving payment from other government payment platforms will be rejected by the Government Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS). Hence their payment will be withheld.

The FMHADMSD has requested for details of those affected and the reasons for their rejection from AGF’s Office and has promised to communicate that to the affected beneficiaries. However, if the rejection was done in error, those affected should be rest assured that they will be paid all that is due to them as soon as the error is rectified by the AGF’s office.

The Minister also explained that the Batches A & B N-Power beneficiaries knew from the beginning as they were informed that the programme is for 24 months. Furthermore, the non dis-engagement of Batch A beneficiaries after 24 months was done out of exigencies of the time. Therefore, exiting Batches, A & B after 40 and 24 months respectively is in line with the conditions stipulated at the time of their enrolment. This is corroborated by the fact that when the N-Power programme was transferred to the ministry late last year, there was no plan for either automatic employment into public service or private sector or for transition to entrepreneurship put in place for them before the take-over by the Ministry.

Despite this, the exited beneficiaries are advised to exercise more patience and await the result of the efforts being made by the Minister who is currently engaging various MDAs including the CBN and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to ensure that the eligible exited beneficiaries are transited to government progammes or even employment where available.

In this regard, “we have directed Focal Persons of NSIPs in all the states to submit an updated list and details of the exited N-Power beneficiaries that are interested in participating in the transition plans of the ministry” the Honourable Minister stated.

While continuing, the Honourable Minister added that the incoming Batch C beneficiaries will clearly know the details of their terms of enrolment and exit at the time of entry into the programme to avoid what happened in the case of Batches A & B. Furthermore, adequate plans will be made well ahead of their time of exiting the program to avoid what happened presently.

The Honourable Minister concluded that the candidates seeking enrolment into batch C will be scrutinized and selected on merit. “The ministry will follow a transparent process for selecting the qualified beneficiaries out of the 5,000,000 (five million) who applied”.

The N-power programme is designed to assist young Nigerians between the ages of 18 to 35 to acquire and develop life-long skills for becoming change makers in their communities and players in the domestic and global markets and given a stipend of N30, 000 monthly.