1st March, 2023
By Ruth Oketunde
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Nigeria will be witnessing severe flooding this year as indicated by predictions from relevant agencies.
Mr Mustapha Ahmed, the Director-General, NEMA, predicted on Wednesday during a two-day Experts’ Technical Meeting on 2023 Climate-Related Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Strategies in Abuja.
He mentioned that the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency had made seasonal climate predictions and annual flood forecasts (NIHSA).
The flood disaster in 2022, he said, was a wake-up call, and the agency would send out early warning messages to states, Local Government Areas (LGAs), and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to the director-general, the meeting will focus on developing vulnerability and risk mapping as a guide to avoid a repeat of last year’s severe flooding.
“We have started early this year, as we are ready for early warning and early action. We will bombard every citizen, state and local government with this information as we want them to know that it is serious.
“We will not keep quiet. We want them to know that there will be a flood this year,’’ he said.
Ahmed urged that those living around water channels and flood plains should take precautions.
Mr Clement Nze, the Director-General of NIHSA, said that 178 LGAs in 32 states and the FCT had been predicted to experience severe flooding in 2023.
“This time, we came out early with this prediction and we expect that relevant actors, governments and individuals will go to work.
“We expect that actions should be taken, especially at the sub-national levels, early enough, to mitigate the impact of flooding in the country,” he said.
NAN