The 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.
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 and Nigerian Meteorological Agency.
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.
Ahmed added that a total of 4,476,867 persons were also affected by the flood while 2,437,411 persons were displaced, about 944,989 farmlands were damaged and 355,986 houses were partially or totally destroyed by floods.
Ahmed also stated that “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 Ahmed, 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.
