The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called for synergy with Edo government to mitigate floods disaster in the state.
The Director General, NEMA, Zubaida Umar made the call at a one-day sensitisation meeting with state government and other stakeholders on strategies to avert flooding on Tuesday in Benin.
Umar said the meeting was necessary following the National Meteorological Agency and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency’s (NIHSA) 2024 flood alert.
She reiterated that some local governments in Edo had been predicted to be among the high and moderate flood risk areas.
Umar, who was represented by Mr Daniel Obot, a director in the agency, listed the affected local governments to include Etsako East, Etsako-West and Etsako-Central, Esan North- East, Esan South-East, Ikpoba-Okha, and Ovia Nort-East.
“The devastating impacts of flood over the years, especially that of 2012 and 2022, had served as a wakeup call to all tiers of governments to collaborate with the NEMA to manage flood related hazards.
“In the recent past, lives have been lost, means of livelihood and infrastructure amounting to billions of Naira, have been destroyed due to unmitigated incidences of floods.
” 31 states with 148 LGAs have been predicted to be within the high flood risk areas while 35 states including FCT with 249 LGAs are considered to fall within the moderate flood risk areas.
” The remaining 377 LGAs are forecasted for the low flood risk areas.
“These flood risk areas are presented with their degree of vulnerability to serve as a tool for governments at all levels to develop risk reduction measures to avert disaster losses during this rainy season, ” Umar said.
According to her, I want to call for support in this intiative of downscaling flood early warning and risk mitigation messages to the grassroots because, Edo in the past has been severely impacted by floods.
“Consequently, all of us are expected to take actions that will drastically reduce the adverse impacts of floods on the entire landscape and on the Nigerian population,” she said.
In his remarks, Edo Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, who welcomed NEMA officials to the state, disclosed that the state government was already prepared to handle any eventuality whether flood related or not.
Represented by the Commissioner for Public Safety and Security, Mr Kingsley Uwagbale, Obaseki said the state had set up a robust emergency control centre with 112 and 739 emergency call lines for emergency response.
” The last flood exposed our incapacity and we learnt from that experience by putting up emergency control centre and structure anybody coming after us will build upon,” the governor said.
