To lessen the effects of floods in the nation, the Federal Government is considering two measures: a Flood Fund and a National Policy on Flood Insurance.
According to a National Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (NFEPRP) document that The Nation received yesterday, 0.1% of funds realized from crude oil accounts and 0.1% of taxes earned by the Federal Inland Revenue Service will go toward the Flood Fund (FIRS).
Donations, endowments, grants, and gifts are additional expected funding sources.
The budget lines for emergency and disaster management in ministries, departments, and agencies budgets, ecological funds, any emergency funds, donor/partner funds, and any agreements made by the president through ad hoc committees with interdisciplinary mandates or terms of reference are also considered funding sources.
On flood Insurance, the document seeks the establishment of “a National Flood Insurance Program for households and businesses in flood-prone areas and other interested parties.”
The policy which should be “available for home or business owners as well as those renting, will be sold through private insurance agents and underwritten by the government.” ….
The document reads in part: “There shall be paid into the Flood Fund: 0.1% of the total monies realised from the crude oil account; 0.1% of the total monies realized from the Federal Inland Revenue services; monies received by the fund in the form of donations, endowments, grants, and gifts; and Monies under an Act payable to the fund.
“The adopted funding strategy for financing flood interventions shall focus on geographic priorities rather than the phase of the flood risk management.
”This will enable better management of flood taking into consideration the peculiarities of the state and avoid a one-size fits all response.
“In other words rather than allocating and releasing a baseline sum for each state for each phase a (community-based) needs assessment must be conducted in each affected and risk area to determine the risks and vulnerabilities to flooding, as well as social, cultural, political, and environmental factors.
“As such, funding shall be allocated to each phase (whether prevention and mitigation; preparedness; response; and recovery and reconstruction) based on such findings on needs.
“Further, the sectors most affected by flood in that particular LGA and state (i.e. food security, health, education, etc.) will be prioritised and given coordinated development and social protection interventions until the next cycle and the predicted se4sonal rainfall in the following year.
“The sources of funding shall adopt a pooled funding model into the “Flood Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund” of each State and managed by the technical committee coordinators.
“Other sources of funding include emergency and disaster management related budget lines in MDA budgets; the ecological fund; any emergency fund; donor/partner funds; and any presidential directives or arrangements through ad-hoc committees with cross-cutting mandates or terms of reference.”
The government also listed how the flood fund will be applied to cater to victims, especially those displaced.
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Source: The Nations
