Amended 2022 Budget For Flood Control Skewed, Stakeholders Allege

As Nigeria’s rainy season reaches its peak, with widespread predictions that more communities would experience flood disasters, some concerned Nigerians under the aegis of Critical Stakeholders have called on Nigerians to hold lawmakers, especially members of the National Assembly responsible in the event of flood disaster.

The call is coming on the heels of an appeal by Amnesty International to the federal government to take concrete steps that will mitigate the potential consequences of flash flooding to avoid a repeat of last year’s floods, which killed more than 612 people across the country.

Speaking with journalists in Abuja at the weekend, Friday, the stakeholders said the decision by the National Assembly to alter the 2022 supplementary budget which made copious provisions for flood control infrastructure was a great disservice to the nation’s desire to mitigate flooding and its impact.

Leader of the group Godwin Ezenwata, said the lawmakers tinkered with the sum of N180 billion earmarked for the construction and rehabilitation of roads among other flood control infrastructures across the country by ‘disproportionately re-allocating in a skewed manner to suit their selfish interest’.

Flanked by other members of the Critical Stakeholders’ group, Ezenwata appealed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to halt the ongoing amendment by the lawmakers and stressed the need for equal distribution of the N180 billion “since virtually all the states have projects need and are gearing up for flood disasters”.

He stated: “This was a budget that had provision of about N700bn but slashed to a paltry N185bn  out of which the lawmakers shared the projects among themselves with the sum of N50bn allocated for two projects in Jigawa state simply because those working on the budget are from the north west while other projects of similar importance were allocated just N10m”

The stakeholders added that contracts for most of the erosion control projects have been awarded with works at advanced stages of completion.

They wondered why the “government is shifting the goal post in the middle of the match”, even as they alleged that most of the contractors got the jobs from the former NASS members who now feel shortchanged by the current members following the tinkering of the budget.

It would be recalled that following President Bola Tinubu’s demand that the National Assembly should amend the 2022 supplementary appropriation act to make provisions for N500 million to cushion the effect of subsidy removal, the lawmakers substantially tinkered with the act and slashed provisions made for flood control.

A copy of the amended budget sighted by our correspondent showed that the sum of N10 million each was allocated for three road projects in Nasarawa.

Similarly, N10 million each was allocated for Idah-Nsukka Road, section IV and section V of Kano-Maiduguri Road, and Augie-Bubuche road in Kebbi state.

Our correspondent reports that the complaints by Ezenwata and his group is coming on the heels of similar protest one by a Civil Society Organisation, Good Governance Initiative (GGI), which chided the president for asking the National Assembly to amend the 2022 supplementary appropriation act to make provision for N500 billion to cushion the effect of subsidy removal.

The CSO had berated the National Assembly for acceding to the president’s request, warning that drawing funds for the palliatives from the supplementary budget has negative implications on the rule of law and due process insisting that it could make investors lose confidence in the Nigerian government.