Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule has directed the creation of dedicated fund for the utilisation of the N3bn released by the federal government to tackle flood challenges in the state.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently ordered the release of the money to states to address flood challenges across the country.
The governor who commended President Tinubu for the gesture promised that that fund will be used for the purpose which it was meant for.
The governor appreciated the president for fulfilling the promise he made to states during one of the National Executive Council (NEC) meetings.
He explained that immediately he was informed by the state Accountant General, Dr. Musa Ahmed Mohammed about the receipt of the money, he summoned officials of the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs in order to discuss how best to utilize the funds.
“The money has been received by the Accountant General. When I was informed, I called the team together to discuss it. What I asked the Accountant General to do is to create a dedicated account for this N3bn.
“We want to make sure that every kobo that we spent is accounted for and is related to flood. So that even if no state is submitting details of how they spent the money I want us in Nasarawa to do that,“ he stated.
Speaking on the disaster in the state, commissioner for special duties on humanitarian affairs and NGOs, Dr Magret Elayo, said her ministry has already undertaken the assessment on areas that would be affected by the floods.
She gave the names of flood prone local governments to include Nasarawa, Toto, Awe and Doma, adding that Lafia, Karu, Wamba and other areas have witnessed some measures of flooding recently.
“Right now we are at the implementation stage of using the resources to make sure that the people actually affected by the flood will be alleviated to a level where they can have a better living arrangement. We are going to provide food items, and households items pending when the flood subsides so that we can move them back into their own homes,” she explained.