Tinubu okays N15b for NEMA to combat flooding

Vice President Kashim Shettima says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the sum of N15 billion for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to prepare for floods ahead of the rainy season.

He also said the Federal Government was set to launch the National Agribusiness Policy Mechanism (NAPM) to strengthen agricultural productivity, stabilise food prices, and drive economic growth.

Speaking on Friday during a meeting of the Presidential Food Systems Coordinating Unit (PFSCU) Steering Committee at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Shettima said the initiative would align agricultural efforts across all government tiers through real-time data analytics.

‘The Green Imperative Project (GIP) is an idea whose time has come. It has been in the incubation period for several years, and now it is coming to fruition; we have to get it right’, he said.

Shettima further said President Tinubu had approved ₦15 billion for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to prepare for floods as the rainy season set in.

‘This is one of the first proactive decisions by the government to prepare for the flooding season’, the Vice President noted.

Earlier, the Technical Assistant to the President on Agriculture and Executive Secretary of PFSCU, Marion Moon, explained that NAPM aimed to address challenges of high food inflation and agricultural yields that lag 60 per cent behind global averages.

She revealed that the pilot survey for NAPM had been completed across 13 states, with a full launch planned for June 2025.

The NAPM, supported by data analytics partnerships and a digital platform under development, is designed to tackle food inflation, inefficient subsidies, and outdated farming practices, to give the country a unified framework to optimise public spending and drive sustainable rural development.

Those present at the meeting included Governors of Jigawa State, Umar Namadi and Ekiti State, Biodun Oyebanji; Deputy Governors of Borno State, Umar Kadafur and Ebonyi State, Patricia Onyemaechi Obila.

Others were Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari; Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Aliyu Abdullahi; Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Finance; heads of agriculture and manufacturing private sector players, and international development partners.