A statement signed yesterday by the Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad Sani Sidi, has warned communities along the River Niger to evacuate immediately to safer ground to avert the effects of the impending flood.
He said that the level of water in all the hydrological monitoring stations across the country as at Friday, August 5, 2016, have already exceeded the corresponding values at that time, which is an alarming situation that requires the prompt and coordinated action of all governments and stakeholders.
Sidi disclosed that “Niger Basin Authority (NBA) 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.
“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.”
Sidi said the states and local government were to ensure observance with the threat in order to avert imminent loss of lives and properties that might certainly arise in the event of flood . And called on all stakeholders to take necessary actions in line with their various mandates.
States along the river Niger belts were identified 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, had been instructed to continue with advocacy visit to the state governments and also urged the state to utilise 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.
The NEMA boss further stated that the agency had received alerts of the flood from information given by the authorities in the Republic of Niger that the present water level in the river had reached a point that might result in the flood that could be compared with the unfortunate incident of 2012.
The 2012 flood disaster, which was described as the worst in about 50 years, started in July and ended in October. About 363 people were killed, while 2.1 million people were displaced According to NEMA, the flood affected 7.7 million people across 30 of the 36 states of Nigeria and caused damages and loss totalling N2.6 trillion.
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