The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, has deployed experts from NEMA, NiMet, and NIHSA to all 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, to downscale the incidents of flood disasters.
The Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, made this known on Thursday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom state capital, at the flag-off of the downscaling of disaster early warning measures to grassroots for effective life-saving early actions during the 2023 rainy season.
Ahmed said the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMET, and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency, NIHSA, have released their 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction, SCP, and Annual Flood Outlook, AFO, respectively, early in the year.
According to him, the result indicates that there would be early onset of rainfall and a high probability of flooding across the country hence the need to take proactive measures to mitigate the envisaged disaster.
“The vital documents contained meteorological forecasts indicating early onset of rainfall and high probability of flooding across the country during the year.
“Earlier, as part of our disaster risk communication, we have written letters to all State Governors and responsible partners, drawing their attention to imminent floods and associated secondary hazards during the rainy season to avoid a repeat of what we experienced last year.
“In 2022, Nigeria experienced the most devastating flood in our national history with more than 4 million people affected, over 2 million persons displaced, and a record death of 665 Nigerians. The flood also caused damage and destruction to about 355,986 houses and 944,989 hectares of farmlands.” He added.
In furtherance, the NEMA said, “It is on this premise that NEMA drawing from its mandate of disaster risk management decided to take the initiative of partnering with NIHSA and NiMet to downscale early warning alerts to States, Local Government Authorities and communities at risk of flood disaster and associated hazards.
“| am very confident that this initiative will enable all responsible actors to take risk-informed decisions to enable them to match early warning with early action, support disaster risk management, safeguard national food security, and engender sustainable socio-economic growth in Nigeria,” he said.
Speaking earlier, the Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, said the state will not be caught off guard as it has made preparations to combat flood disasters.
