By Our Reporter
A women interest-centred non-governmental organization, Barrister Chika Rita Okwuosa Foundation (BCROF) has charted a new path with the aim to train advocates to champion the lobby of the stakeholders to amend the 20-year-old Anambra State Emergency Management Agency (ANSEMA) Law.
The law when in.place will ensure that more budgetary allocation is provided for SEMA to enable it tackle many challenges facing it particularly flood and its attendant menace.
The training is aimed at equipping the participants with the knowledge and skills to organize outreach programmes to policy decision makers, traditional rulers, educationists, media outfits, opinion leaders, and working groups to support the agenda to come amend the SEMA Law and increase its budgetary allocation on flood activities.
Speaking at the one-day event in Awka, the State capital yesterday, the Lead Facilitator and Director of Safepath Alliance for Women and Girls Nigeria, Barrister Nkechi Odunukwe lamented that re-occurence of deaths resulting from flooding which she contended could have been avoided, if there is a.pro-active SEMA Law in place.
Odunukwe while speaking at a one-day advocacy training on Flood Management, Civic Engagement, SMARTIE Advocacy and Women Economic Empowerment organized by Barrister Chika Rita Okwuosah Foundation (BCROF) in collaboration with Rise Up and Public Health Institute, said that the re-occurence of flood-related deaths and other devastating activities from flooding each year are enough to convince the government on the need to review the existing SEMA Law and beef up budgetary allocation to the body to tackle flood menace.
According to her, pilot project carried out in four communities of Ogbaru and Anambra East Local Government Areas, ANSEMA has been found wanting to rise on the occasion on account of non- provision of budget line to combat flooding.
She said the review of SEMA Law in the State would ensure adequate budget is provided for the agency to address issues of early warning, advocacy, relocation and accommodating of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps.
She observed that pro-active flood disaster management is necessary especially in the 7 most-prone local council areas where it is perennial, calling for provision of budget line for SEMA. She said that the law should equally empower the most vulnerable persons like the elderly, women and youths.
While harping on the negative impact of flood in the communities, she called on the government to do the needful to improve their environment and livelihood.
According to her, the event is the advocacy for SEMA Law with a budget allocation to mitigate against flood disaster with the inclusion of rehabilitation and empowerment.
Odunukwe when speaking on the sidelines of the event said: “We intervened in Umunnaukwo and Atani for Ogbaru as well as Eziaguluotu and Aguleri for Anambra East.
“We discovered that when the flood hits, women and children are most impacted, particularly pregnant women, adolescent girls, young women, elderly women, nursing mothers, and then persons with disability.
“We also found out that Anambra State Emergency Management Agency, (ANSEMA) is not able to do as much as it should do because the law does not support the government to create a budget line for flooding, which has become perennial and is not going away soon.
“These communities cannot continue to use temporary makeshift measures to mitigate flood. There has to be a budget line that allows ANSEMA to know how to intervene when the flood hits.
“So, we are advocating to critical stakeholders like the legislature, the executive, for clear-cut review of the ANSEMA law to create budget for flooding and all the other issues that have to do with seven of the local government areas that are always most impacted by flood.
“Apart from budget line for flooding, there needs to be a budget line within the ANSEMA budget that clearly tackles empowering women and girls because they are the most vulnerable to flooding.
“There’s so much fighting against these women and persons with disabilities because when the flooding comes, nobody thinks about them. If we can get the House of Assembly to revisit the ANSEMA law and create a budget for ANSEMA, we’ll be able to handle flooding more effectively in the state,” Odunukwe said.
In his remarks, the BCROF Communications Officer, Hon. Francis Uyanneh revealed that the SEMA Law which was passed into law under the Dr Chris Ngige administration about two decades ago domiciles the Agency under the Office of the Governor without budgetary provision. Uyanneh said the current negative flood situation in the State necessitates that provision of adequate budget for flood, which he observed, could only be done through the review of the SEMA Law.
He noted that the state government has limited itself to temporary measures in areas of provision of temporary camps, some households items, and palliatives.
“What we’re asking for is budget allocation to have more positive impact on flooding. Uyanneh said that the new SEMA Law, when enacted and operated would provide for a permanent IDPs camps, live jackets, skill acquisition training while in camps and more empowerment not women which would impact positively on the households, community, State and nation.
In her welcome address, the
Programme Coordinator of
BCROF, Mrs Anastasia Ezeolisa explained that the woman-led and women-focused NGO registered with CAC and inaugurated on June 14th, 2019 got an award in September 2024 by Rise Up to implement, an advocacy project which focuses on flood disaster mitigation in Anambra State.
“The focus is for the Anambra State House of Assembly to amend ANSEMA law which will go with budget allocation to address flood disasters and other natural disasters with the provision of economic rehabilitation and empowerment of women and girls in those affected communities and Local Government Areas.
“This budget allocation would galvanize ANSEMA to effectively address flood disasters and other disasters in Anambra State which will also include programme design, bulk centers, establishment of IDP camps, etc, “he concluded.
