Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed on Thursday warned that there is a high risk of coastal flooding due to the expected rise in sea level and tidal surge that may negatively impact agriculture, human settlements and transportation in Bayelsa, Delta, Lagos and Rivers States.
Mr Ahmed disclosed this in Abuja during the public presentation of the 2023 Climate-related Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Strategies’, jointly produced by Nigerian Hydrological Services (NIHSA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet).
While expressing regrets over the casualties recorded last year, he observed that no fewer than 665 people died while 3,181 persons were injured across the country during the 2022 flood.
He further noted that from the total of 4,476,867 persons were also affected by the flood, 2,437,411 persons were displaced, about 944,989 farmlands were damaged and 355,986 houses were partially or totally destroyed by floods.
He said: “sequel to the public presentation of the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) by NiMet on 24th January, 2023 and Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) by NIHSA on 17th February, 2023, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) convened a technical meeting to review the two forecast documents.
“The technical meeting was attended by experts from relevant stakeholder organizations that thoroughly appraised the risk implications of the forecasts and developed an early warning document based on thematic sectors covered by both NIHSA and NIMET.
“This document is expected to aid responsible organizations carry out preparedness and mitigation actions to safeguard lives, livelihoods, properties and the environment against hydro meteorological hazards in Nigeria during the 2023 rainy season and beyond.”
According to him, the “SCP predicted that rainfall onset would be earlier than the long term average in most parts of the country. The prediction also indicated rainfall amounts range to be average and above average during the year.
“The exception to these are for parts of Yobe, Jigawa, Kano, Bauchi, Kaduna and the FCT that are likely to observe below-average rainfall. Furthermore, States that are expected to record rainfall amounts of 2700mm and above are Bayelsa, Akwa-Ibom, Delta and Cross River.
“Similarly, the 2023 AFO has revealed that a total of 66 Local Government Areas (LGAs) are at high flood risk in the months of April to June; 148 LGAs in July to September and 100 LGAs in the months of October and November.
“In addition, a total of 41 LGAs fall within the moderate flood risk areas in the months of April to June; 199 LGAs in the months of July to September and 72 LGAs in the months of October and November.
In his address, NiMet Director General, Professor Mansur Matazu who argued that the trend of climate change is alarming, underscored the need to take necessary actions with a view to avert Climate-related disaster in the country.
He said: “According to a UNICEF report in 2022, more than 2.5 million people in Nigeria needed humanitarian assistance, of which 60 percent were children, who were also at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning, and malnutrition due to the most severe flooding witnessed by Nigeria in the past decade. That was quite an alarming statistic if you ask me.”
On her part, NEMA’s Director of Planning, Research & Forecasting, Mrs. Fatima Kasim averred that the document was one of the flagship resource for the management of climate-related disasters covering important sectors that include Agriculture, Transportation, Health, Power Generation and Distribution, Telecommunication and Water resources.
According to her, “following the recent experience of flood that devastated many communities across the country, NEMA has adopted a new approach in the timely production of strategies for timely response to the predictions for this year to prepare ahead and efficiently mitigate against the likelihood of floods.”
