Flooding: NEMA Says 1.6 Million Persons Affected By Flooding

By Ayodele Oni

Still counting loses to flooding in major cities in Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has disclosed that about 1.6 million people have been affected by flooding in Nigeria between April and September 2024.

Director General of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, made this known during the 2024 downscaling of flood early warning strategies for early actions event in Birnin Kebbi on Thursday.

Umar, represented by Dr Daniel Obot, the agency’s Director of Disaster Risk Reduction, also said that 634,035 were displaced and 94,741 houses were destroyed or submerged.

She said the early warning strategies aimed to integrate direct risk communication and engagement approach to disseminate early warning messages for early actions at the state, LG, and community levels.

“The rainfall and flood advisories contained in the Season Climate Prediction (SCP), and Annual Flood Outlooks (AFO) of Nigeria, Meteorological Agency and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), respectively, have provided us with early warning alerts.

”Consequently, all of us are expected to take actions that will drastically reduce the adverse impacts of floods on the entire lands and Nigerian population, especially for the most vulnerable persons living in communities at risk of flooding.”

Umar said that the statistics from the National Emergency Coordination Centre (EOC) of NEMA as of Sept. 13, 176 LGAs in 30 states including the FCT were affected as against the 148 LGAs and 31 states predicted by NIHSA.

Also speaking, Gov. Nasir Idris, appreciated NEMA’s proactive stance in assessing flood risk areas, providing relief and strengthening our capacity for disaster management.