FG Approves N83.2 Billion to Tackle Flooding Across Nigeria

The Anticipatory Action Trust Fund, under the National Economic Council (NEC) has approved the disbursement of ₦83.2 billion to address the perennial challenge of flooding in the country.

The approval was reportedly given on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at the NEC meeting presided over by Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja.

Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu, speaking with State House correspondents after the meeting, said over N166 billion was initially proposed for the trust fund.

He however said the council approved ₦83.2bn for the intervention.

The Anticipatory Action Trust Fund is expected to support proactive measures against flooding, such as early warning systems, emergency preparedness and other flood mitigation initiatives.

The council observed the fund’s relevance to addressing disasters and emergencies throughout the country.

It also stressed that the NEC could no longer be seen as an institution that only reacts after disasters have occurred, but one that takes proactive measures to reduce their impact.

This approval follows several instances of seasonal flooding recorded in many states which have often led to the displacement of residents, destruction of farmlands and damage to public infrastructure.

Speaking at the meeting, Shettima said the reform agenda of President Bola Tinubu’s administration must now yield visible results across the federation.

The Vice President stated that the council’s work should be judged by the impact it makes on the lives of ordinary Nigerians, especially farmers, manufacturers, vulnerable citizens, unemployed youth and children that will inherit the country.

He said, “When this Council last met I called our economy a workshop. A place of measuring and correction. Where plans become systems and systems become institutions before any of it is prosperity.

“A workshop is measured by one thing. Not by the plans on its walls but by what comes off the bench. We return today to that bench. Not to admire the image, but to ask the question which honours it. Is it coming together?”

Nigeria remained a federation moving from stabilisation to production, Shettima said in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha.

He also said that the country is moving from aspiration to implementation, and from isolated interventions to coordinated national growth.

He said the agenda before the council was not a new conversation, but a continuation of a national assignment that now required more pressure for action and results.

“The assignment is still the same. We are still a federation moving from stabilisation to production, from aspiration to implementation, from isolated interventions to coordinated national growth. “I hope what has changed is our nearness to delivery,” Shettima said.

A federation does not prosper by letting its most vulnerable fall behind. “The minimum below which we shall not allow any Nigerian to fall is the dignity of the least citizen.

According to the Vice President, the social protection agenda before the NEC is an opportunity to translate the national conscience into a durable system that protects citizens and strengthens human capital.

He said the government must ensure that vulnerable Nigerians were not left behind as reforms continue across various sectors.

“The council must emphasize on pragmatic results that impact lives, generate opportunities and reinforce the foundation for national development,” Shettima said.

Shettima said Nigeria should stop depending on the export of raw materials while importing finished products from other countries on exports and production.

The country’s economic transformation depended on building a complete value chain linking farms to factories, factories to standards, standards to ports, and ports to markets, he said.

“We can’t go on exporting raw materials and importing finished products,” he said.

The Vice President assured that NEC would tackle the bottlenecks that impede Nigeria’s agricultural exports, particularly the challenges related to the movement of goods through the ports and the standards demanded by international markets.

Shettima said that improving the port processes and meeting export compliance requirements were key to rewarding farmers, strengthening manufacturers and expanding Nigeria’s participation in global trade.

Farmers and producers can only get full value for their work when goods move efficiently and meet global market standards, he said.

“A country that cannot move its goods has imprisoned its own farmers. Meeting international standards is not kowtowing to foreign demand. “It is the price of the markets that will reward our labour,” Shettima added.

The meeting also reiterated the council’s focus on coordinated national growth, emergency preparedness, social protection and reforms to strengthen production throughout the country.