The National Emergency Management Agency
and the Nigerian Metrological Agency on Wednesday called on state
governments to prepare for more flooding following recent signals from
the Niger Basin Authority.
The Director-General, NEMA, Mr Yunusa
Maihaja, and the DG of NiMet, Prof Dani Mashi, gave the warning in Abuja
during a flood coordination meeting with government agencies, United
Nations agencies and others.
The states that may be affected are Anambra, Delta, Rivers, Imo and Bayelsa, among others.
Maihaja said the meeting was organised
to support planning and information sharing on priority areas of need to
respond to the needs of affected communities.
He said 27 States had experienced
devastating flood disaster, noting that the agency would do all it could
to prepare Nigerians for the imminent flooding.
He said, “Here again is another alert
of an emergency warning from the Niger Basin Authority and confirmed by
the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency of the rising water levels in
Niger which has been at ‘Orange Alert level’ consistently for the past
seven days.
“The Orange Alert is the second most
severe category in measurement. The National Emergency Management Agency
is hereby alerting the general public, particularly those resident
along the River Niger and its tributaries in Kebbi, Niger, Kogi,
Anambra, Delta, Imo, Rivers and Bayesla states of very high risk of
catastrophic flooding in coming days and weeks.
“In the light of the above, the agency
is therefore calling on the general public in the aforementioned areas
to move to higher grounds and the respective state governments to engage
in sensitisation, evacuation and preparation for possible flooding.”
He said the agency was ready for any
emergency as its emergency response teams had been placed on high alert
in the areas to coordinate all possible emergency response activities
and assist relevant stakeholders for effective evaluation of the
communities.
In his comment, Mashi recalled that in
March, NiMET in its Seasonal Rainfall Prediction predicted high
intensity rainfall in parts of the country with advice on adequate
preparedness to relevant agencies.
He urged NEMA to increase its
sensitisation programme, especially in flood-prone states and called on
state governments to enforce relocation of those in flood-prone areas.
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