The National Economic Council (NEC) has approved N83.2 billion for interventions under the Anticipatory Action Task Force (AATF) to mitigate the impact of flooding and other climate-related emergencies expected across Nigeria during the rainy season.
The approval was granted on Thursday during the 158th meeting of the Council, chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima. The intervention followed a presentation by the Minister of State for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, who highlighted the urgent need for proactive measures to address recurring flood disasters and climate-induced emergencies across the country.
Council members stressed the importance of the Anticipatory Action Task Force in strengthening Nigeria’s disaster preparedness framework, noting that emergency management efforts should move beyond reactive responses to a more preventive and coordinated approach.
Addressing the meeting, Vice President Shettima said the administration of President Bola Tinubu must begin to translate its economic reforms into tangible benefits for citizens across the federation.
“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,” the Vice President said.
“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?”
Shettima noted that Nigeria remains on a path from economic stabilisation to production-driven growth and urged greater collaboration among federal and state governments to ensure policy implementation translates into measurable results.
“The assignment has not changed. We remain a federation moving from stabilisation to production, from aspiration to implementation, from isolated interventions to coordinated national growth. What has changed, I hope, is our proximity to delivery,” he stated.
The Vice President further emphasized the need to protect vulnerable Nigerians through effective social protection programmes, arguing that economic growth must be inclusive and benefit all segments of society.
“A federation does not earn its prosperity by leaving its most vulnerable behind and hoping they catch up. The dignity of the citizen with the least is the floor beneath which we have resolved that no Nigerian shall fall,” he said.
On agricultural production and exports, Shettima challenged state governments to work closely with the Federal Government in addressing logistical constraints and compliance challenges that continue to hinder Nigeria’s access to international markets.
He argued that Nigeria’s economic transformation depends on building an efficient value chain connecting agricultural production, manufacturing, quality standards, ports and global markets.
“We cannot continue to export raw materials and import finished prosperity,” the Vice President declared.
According to him, the Council is determined to address obstacles affecting agricultural exports, particularly bottlenecks at ports and compliance requirements demanded by international markets.
“A nation that cannot move its goods has imprisoned its own farmers. Meeting international standards is not submission to foreign demand. It is the price of the markets that will reward our labour,” Shettima said.
The latest approval of N83.2 billion for flood preparedness comes amid growing concerns over the increasing frequency of extreme weather events and flooding incidents across Nigeria. The intervention is expected to support anticipatory actions aimed at reducing the humanitarian and economic consequences of disasters before they occur.
The Council’s decisions underscore the Federal Government’s renewed focus on climate resilience, agricultural productivity, export competitiveness and social protection as key pillars of its broader economic reform agenda.
