Federal Government has approved emergency management plans designed to mitigate the impact of floods across the country.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Dr Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, announced the move in Abuja.
Dr Sani Gwarzo said Government had approved the National Emergency Flood Preparedness and Response Plans to reduce the impact of flood nationwide
He said experts responsible for controlling flood disaster had informed a government committee that the scale of the 2022 flooding disaster was similar to that of 2012.
The Permanent Secretary promised that the meeting would soon come out with a communique informing Nigerians that government is not just aware of problem at hand, but is equally prepared to deal with its impact.
“The government is also prepared to make sure that those places and communities not directly affected (by flooding) also get some relief materials,” he promised.
He recalled that early this year, NiMet predicted that some parts of the country would witness increased rainfall. The NiMET forecast had also said that deep into the rainy season, one African country (namely Cameroon) would release water from its dam.
The eventual release of water from the dam led to a dramatic increase in the volume of water that Nigeria has been receiving.
According to figures released by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), relief materials have so far been distributed to no less than 315,000 people displaced across the line of impact.
Flood impact
Giving further details, Dr Sani-Gwarzo said “over 1.4 million persons were displaced, with about 500 persons been reported dead, 790,254 persons moved out of their locations, while 1,546 persons were injured.
He also said “44,099 houses were partially damaged, 45,249 houses, totally damaged; 76,168 hectares of farmland were partially destroyed; 70,566 hectares of farmland completely destroyed.”
National Emergency Plan
The National Emergency Flood Preparedness and Response Plans for Nigeria, which has just been approved by the Federal Executive Council, contains all the details of the roadmap that need to be in place to deal with flood disasters in the country.
During the stakeholders meeting, a three-pronged approach for the future was agreed.
They include, the immediate actions to be taken by respective agencies, the short-term measures and the long-term measures to be adopted by agencies in charge.
RN