The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the release of over ₦83 billion under the Anticipatory Action Trust Fund (AATF) to address the recurring challenge of flooding across the country.
The approval was granted at the NEC meeting chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja, on Thursday.
Addressing State House correspondents shortly after the meeting, the Governor of Cross River State, Bassey Otu, said a total of over ₦166 billion had initially been proposed for the Anticipatory Action Trust Fund.
However, he disclosed that NEC approved the sum of ₦83.2 billion.
The fund is expected to support proactive measures, including early warning systems, emergency preparedness, and other flood mitigation initiatives designed to reduce the devastating effects of seasonal flooding.
In addition, the Council noted the importance of the AATF in addressing disasters and emergencies across the country, underscoring the fact that NEC cannot continue to be seen as always taking reactionary measures with regard to emergency and disaster management.
Speaking at the meeting, Shettima said the President Bola Tinubu administration’s reform agenda must now produce visible results across the federation.
Shettima noted that the Council’s work must be judged by what changes in the lives of ordinary Nigerians, especially farmers, manufacturers, vulnerable citizens, unemployed young people and children who will inherit the country.
He stated, “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 by one thing. 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. Is the work taking shape?”
In a statement, Stanley Nkwocha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications, quoted Shettima as saying that Nigeria remains a federation moving from stabilisation to production, from aspiration to implementation, and from isolated interventions to coordinated national growth.
