NEMA Seeks UN Agency’s Assistance To Address Flood

Ahead of the impending flood in Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has called for the technical assistance of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR).

This was contained in a statement signed by Ezekiel Manzo, of the press unit of NEMA on Sunday.

The statement said to address the increasing dynamic disaster landscape, the director general of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed has “requested the UNDRR to support Nigeria with technical assistance for capacity building and training on early warning forecasting, hazard risk analysis and dissemination to the public, Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and Sendai Framework monitor and reporting as well as development of resilience strategies regarding communication and transmission of early warning systems at sub-national levels.”

The statement also stated that NEMA has developed a program of partnership with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and Nigerian Hydrological Service (NIHSA) to downscale the early warning alerts to communities in the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

This is contained in Nigeria’s statement presented by the director general, NEMA at the Mid-term review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 held at the United Nations headquarters, New York.

He made the presentation at the weekend.

With the hindsight of the 2022 flood disaster experience, he said the federal government of Nigeria has also set up a presidential committee for the development of a comprehensive plan of action for preventing flood disaster in Nigeria.

The NEMA DG said the inclusive approach adopted was in tandem with the intent of the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres who in 2022 declared the UN initiative to spearhead new actions to ensure that every person on earth is protected using early warning systems within five years of the declaration.

He said in line with target G of the SFDRR on delivering early warning to all Nigerians, “NEMA in collaboration with the Nigerian National Space Development Agency (NASDA) is working assiduously to increase the availability of, and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information in an inclusive manner through both conventional and non-conventional communications channels including the social media.”

He told the global gathering how Nigeria has made appreciable efforts to actualize the four priorities and seven targets of the SFDRR, including that “the National Emergency Management Agency is currently organizing National and Sub-National Platforms across Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and this constitutes an importance integral part of achieving progress in the country’s drive towards sub national level implementation of the UNDRR protocols.”

In addition to the presentation at the plenary, the director general, NEMA held a bilateral meeting with the UNDRR director, Ms Paola Albrito during which he informed her of agency’s partnership with several agencies including Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre that facilitated NEMA’s capacity building programme for the 37 heads of State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) in Nigeria as well as heads of the 16 NEMA Zonal, Operational and Territorial Offices across the country.