News Investigators/ The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday, approved N83.2 billion for the Anticipatory Action Task Force (AATF), an intervention to mitigate the anticipated flooding and other climate-related emergencies across the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the council approved the funds during its 158th meeting held at the council chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The approval followed a presentation to the council by the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu, on the need to address issues associated with flooding across the country.
The council’s Chairman, Vice President Kashim Shettima, called for collaboration between state and the federal governments to resolve logistical and compliance barriers that prevent farm produce from reaching international markets.
Shettima stressed that President Bola Tinubu administration’s reform agenda must produce visible results across the federation.
He noted that the council’s work must be judged by what changes in the lives of ordinary Nigerians, especially farmers, manufacturers, vulnerable citizens, and other Nigerians.
“When this council last met, I called our economy a workshop, a place of measurement and correction; a place where plans are turned into systems, and systems into institutions, before any of it becomes prosperity.
“A workshop is judged not by the plans pinned to its walls, but by what comes off the bench.
“We return to that bench today, not to admire the image, but to ask the question that honours it,” he said.
Shettima said Nigeria remains a federation moving from stabilisation to production, from aspiration to implementation, and from isolated interventions to coordinated national growth.
According to him, the agenda before the council is not a new conversation, but a continuation of the national assignment with greater pressure for action and results.
“The assignment has not changed. What has changed, I hope, is our proximity to delivery.
“A federation does not earn its prosperity by leaving its most vulnerable behind and hoping they catch up.
“The dignity of the citizen with the least is the floor beneath which we have resolved that no Nigerian shall fall.”
He pointed out that the social protection agenda before the council was an opportunity to convert national conscience into a durable system that protects citizens.
The vice president emphasised the need for Nigeria to stop relying on the export of raw materials while importing finished prosperity from other countries.
Earlier, Gov. Bassey Otu of Cross River, who argued that flooding had become a recurring decimal, commended the federal government for taking proactive measures to mitigate flooding across the country.
“In the council meeting today, we had a very retroactive request that was put forward for the approval and disbursement of funds for the implementation of the AATF.
“The purpose of the request was to seek the consideration of the council for the approval and disbursement of funds through the Federal Account Allocation Committee.
“This is with a view to facilitate the implementation of the approved AATF intervention,” he said.
Also, Gov. Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau said: “This is the first time as a nation that we are taking proactive steps to mitigate the impact of flood.
“Most of the time we waited till the flood had done its damage before acting, but this time around, under the leadership of NEC Chairman, we are taking proactive steps to mitigate the possibilities of the flood”.
NAN