The Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs Zubaida Umar says 259 deaths have been recorded due to the flood disaster that affected over one million persons.
By Chimezie Godfrey
The Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs Zubaida Umar says 259 deaths have been recorded due to the flood disaster that affected over one million persons.
Mrs Umar who revealed this during the National Emergency Coordination Forum Meeting held in Abuja on Thursday, lamented the devastating impact of the flooding that has ravaged some parts of the country particularly Borno state.
She said,”As you may all be aware, flood has ravaged many parts of the country with devastating impact in some locations. The latest of which is that of Borno State, where Search and Rescue is currently being carried out by emergency workers.
“It is pertinent to note that flood predictions across Nigeria for this year had earlier been disseminated to various stakeholders by NEMA and other agencies of government saddled with this responsibility. Though the flooding may not be totally prevented, efforts are being made to mitigate the impact to the barest minimum.
“The current trend of flooding indicated that 29 States and 172 LGAs have been impacted by flooding, affecting 1,048,312 people, displaced 625,239 and have led to the death of 259 lives.”
The NEMA DG stressed the need for a
coordinated response to tackle the menace.
“This unfortunate and almost unexpected incident requires coordinated response, hence the call for this emergency meeting.
“This occurrence is not in total deviation from the predictions as contained in this year’s Annual Flood Outlook released by NIHSA which informed that in the months of July to September, 2024, 33 States and 135 LGAs are within flood high-risk areas, while the period between October and November has 19 States and 44 LGAs.
“The Federal Government through NEMA commiserates with those that have been affected by the flood disaster and assures them that necessary succour will be provided accordingly,” she said.
Umar also disclosed that internally displaced persons camps have been activated in some states, as well as the deployment of rescue equipments, provision of food and non food items to support affected persons.
“The main reasons for conveying this meeting therefore are to receive update on the flood situation and to assign roles and responsibilities to all stakeholders to ensure we are all on the same page.
“As part of on-going efforts, Internally Displaced Persons camps have been activated in some States; additional staff have been deployed to support Search and Rescue operations; water purification and critical Search and Rescue equipment have been deployed to affected States; while food and non food items are also being provided to support the affected persons.
“To complement these efforts, plans are underway to: provide additional relief intervention including medical consumables and medicaments; deploy additional water purifiers; support States to evacuate people at risk; provide additional support to Naval Disaster Response Units; provide additional support for sectoral response; relocate and rehabilitate the displaced population and to carry out in- depth Damage and Loss assessment among others.
“While appreciating the support of our international partners, it is important to note that the situation is not yet overwhelming for the Government of Nigeria to cope with. We however encourage partners to continue to carry out their routine assistance to affected people while still monitoring the situation,” the NEMA DG said.
She urged stakeholders to continue to support their efforts to ameliorate the suffering of affected people and also to stem the trend of the disaster across the country.
