Victims of flood not feeling your impact, Reps slam NEMA DG

•Accuse agency of lopsidedness in interventions

By Christiana Ekpa 

Members of the House of Representatives Committee on Ecology Fund, Wednesday slammed the management of the National Emergency Management Agency, (NEMA) over what it called lack of impact of the agency by victims of flood disasters in their constituencies.

The lawmakers who grilled the DG, Ahmed Mustapha Habib and his management team at an ongoing investigative hearing on the utilization of the total consolidated accruals and utilization of ecological funds fumed at the lack of collaboration between NEMA and members of the House whose constituents have been subjected to unto sufferings due to flooding.

They also accused the National NEMA of lopsidedness in reaching out to states who were affected by the recent flooding in the country.

The Director General of NEMA, Ahmed Mustapha, who appeared before the Committee said following the recent flood disaster, the Agency had reached out to and responded to over 1,427,370 displaced persons in all the states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). 

Mustapha also said that the provision of food and non-food items for immediate relief and building materials to facilitate long term rehabilitation of the impacted population is still ongoing. 

But a member from Edo State, Hon. Johnson Oghuma (APC, Edo), accused the agency of giving preferential treatment to a particular region of the country in their relief materials distribution selection process.

Johnson, who was visibly agitated as he banged on the table, told the DG that he was partial and the impact of the distribution claim had not been felt in his constituency and Edo state as a whole.

He said: “In the whole of my area, we do not have any Assembly member and you said you informed Assembly members from my state and I am here. It is my own federal constituency that is swallowed up by the flood. I moved a motion concerning my federal constituency and that is the only way they communicate to you. I do not have any personal relationship with you. I don’t have to ask you for anything because I do not need anything from you.”

“For my people, they are part of Nigeria and I want to put it to you that you people were not appointed to be partial. You swore an oath before you took your office. The way you treat some of us from this area, is that the same way you are treating other people? I am bitter because of the way you have abandoned these people. My state is never recognized. You have never done anything in Edo State and you call yourself NEMA. Is NEMA not Nigeria? Is it a regional organization?”, Oghuma fumed.

Also, member from Ogun State, Hon. Adewunmi Onanuga said that she had written twice to the agency with regards to issues in her state and constituency but never got a response.

“I am a member of the committee directly overseeing NEMA. I do not have a relationship with that agency. I think I have written like twice to the agency with regards to issues in my state and federal constituency, not once has anyone called me. I do not know whether you deal only with state actors, but not with anybody from the Federal level and it is highly unfair. When we came for oversight in Lagos, I think my state is under that jurisdiction, not once did we get any information with regards to what NEMA is doing in the whole of that South West. I don’t have any issues with the DG, but I have issues with the Agency as a whole and I know I speak for a lot of members, who are representative of Nigerians. These are issues that I think need to be dealt with,” she said.

The Committee Chairman Hon. Ibrahim Isiaka, also from Ogun said the Agency needed to get lawmakers involved in what they do with regards to provision of reliefs to disaster victims.

 “Everything starts and ends at your table. Nobody is asking for any special favour. But what you are doing if they (lawmakers) are carried along, the pressure on them will lessen,” Isiaka said.

Giving details of consolidated accruals and ecological fund utilization from 2011 – 2022, the DG explained that the sum of N112, 137, 641, 074.17 was expended in disaster management activities across the country.