Emergency Agency Predicts Repeat Of 2012 flood in Parts Of Nigeria, Asks Communities To Relocate

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has foreseen the re-occurrence of the 2012 flood in many parts of Nigeria even as it advised communities along the river Niger to evacuate immediately to safer ground.
The Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi, in a statement, said the floods may occur at any moment from now as a result of intense rainfall and rise in water level.
Sani Sidi said the agency has received alerts of the flood from information given by the authorities in the Republic of Niger that the present water level in the river has reached a point that may result in the flood.
“Niger Basin Authority notified Nigeria that rainy season, which started in the Middle Niger (Burkina Faso and Niger Republic) in June, 2016, has led to a gradual rise of the level of River Niger in Niamey, Niger Republic. This high level of water in Niger Republic is already spreading to Benin Republic, and invariably, to Nigeria.”
He said that the level of water in all the hydrological monitoring stations across the country, as at Friday, has exceeded the corresponding values at that time, which is an alarming situation that requires the prompt and coordinated action of all governments and stakeholders.
“if the heavy rainfall continues in intensity and duration within these regions of the River Niger, it is imminent that flood situation similar to that of the year 2012 may occur.”
The Director General of NEMA then called on all stakeholders to take necessary actions in line with their various mandates.
“The states and local government are advised to take action on the threat in order to avert imminent loss of lives and properties that might certainly arise in the event of flood.”
Sani Sidi identified the states along the River Niger belts as being the most vulnerable as well as those along its major tributaries that include Benue River belts, the confluence states and downstream to the Atlantic Coast.
The Agency’s Zonal and Operation offices, he said, have been instructed to continue with advocacy visit to the state governments and asked the states to utilize the flood vulnerability maps given to them earlier by NEMA to identify safer ground for temporary shelters in time of evacuation as well as reviewing all their contingency plans. [myad]