National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Head of Operations (Ekiti, Ondo and Osun), Kadiri Olanrewaju, has charged residents of Ekiti State to take precautionary measures against flooding this year.
Olanrewaju, said Ekiti state had been named among the states expected to experience flooding based on the weather forecast which revealed that most local government areas in the state were flood-prone with high risks due to sessional rainfall.
Olanrewaju made this known in Ado Ekiti during a meeting with critical stakeholders on disaster risk management, tagged, ‘Duties, functions and responsibilities in disasters management’, organised by the agency to improve community awareness and enhance stakeholder response.
He said, “Everyone of us has witnessed the recent floods in Nigeria, which claimed lives, displaced thousands of people as well as destroy properties worth millions of naira. Floods cause widespread ecological dislocation”
He added, “it has become necessary for communities, individuals and authorities to take proactive measures. We need to believe that prevention is better and cheaper than cure, as well as consider climate change issues more seriously,”
Olanrewaju attributed flooding to, poorly-managed urbanisation, ecosystem degradation and poverty were the main drivers of vulnerability that threatened human lives.
The General Manager, Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency, Jide Borode, described NEMA as an important collaborating partner in handling disaster issues, which had facilitated the effectiveness of people’s response in risky communities and internally displaced persons to adapt and live with the risk factors that come with flooding.
In his own submission, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Ayodele Adeyanju, assured NEMA of government’s readiness and support in case of emergency and response, called for increased sensitisation and capacity building of persons in the flood-impacted communities.
Stakeholders and agencies at the meeting were: the Federal Fire Service, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Red Cross, Federal Road Safety Corps, National Orientation Agency, National Environmental Standard and Regulatory Agency, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, media and residents of the flood-prone communities.
