The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has organised a community-based sensitisation on the Implications of the 2023 impending flood in Niger state.
Head, NEMA Minna Operations Office, Hajiya Zainab Sai’du said at the sensitisation held in the Maikunkele community of Bosso Local Government Area of the state, that the sensitisation was to alert communities of impending flood for them to make informed decisions ahead.
Sai’du who was represented by Head, Disaster Risk Reduction Unit in the agency, Dr Zainab Ndanusa said the annual flood outlooks by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) had placed Niger state on red alert.
“This is because the state has been identified to be among the highly probably flood-risk state. The implications of this mean there will be a huge flood expected to happen in the state.
“This sensitisation is for people to take early measures against an impending flood which causes pain, untold hardship to many people, destroys lives, livelihoods and people’s wealth such as farmlands,” she said.
Sai’du noted that the sensitisation was also to brainstorm with members of flood-prone communities to come up with measures to prevent and reduce losses as well as the negative impact of the flood.
District Head of Maikunkele, Alhaji Abdullahi Dada, appreciated the agency’s support continuous support to the communities by sending out early warnings for them to prepare ahead of flood to reduce losses.
In his remarks, the state Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) in Niger State, Alhaji Yahaya Gbongbo, advised members of communities to always resolve issues affecting them in a peaceful manner, adding that the mandate of the agency was to preach peaceful coexistence.
In her presentation Dr Zainab Ndanusa, titled ‘A Call for a Community-Based Flood Risk Reduction Against the 2023 Impending Flood’, said the flood would affect urban and rural dwellers who reside along river banks, adding that flood is predicted to occur in Niger state from August to October.
She said it was expedient for traditional and religious heads across the state to key into the risk reduction approach in order to reduce or mitigate the danger ahead.
“NEMA in Minna call on these communities leaders to identify drainages/culverts that are blocked to be cleared and sensitizing people who have built on a flood plain and those living on river banks to relocate to safer and higher places,” she said.
In their separate remarks, some of the members of the communities appreciated the agency for its early warning system and appealed to the agency to be ready to attend to complaints from victims of floods as well as attend to their needs.
They called on the agency to support victims of floods from the Manta community who have relocated to the Maikunkele community as well as help address the activities of distillation among women in the area.
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