The director-general, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Ahmed, has called on stakeholders to brace up and prepare to mitigate against the likelihood of flood this year.
He gave the advice against the backdrop of the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction released last week by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMeT), which indicated that there will be normal to above normal rainfall in some States of the Federation in 2023.
The NEMA DG, who spoke in Abuja at the weekend with the hindsight of last year’s flooding that devastated many communities across the States, said it was imperative for State governments to support their own emergency management agencies to be operationally-ready and also establish local emergency committees (LEMCs) for grassroots participation in disaster management.
Spokesperson of NEMA, Manzo Ezekiel, said while addressing the participants at the close of international disaster management executive seminar for Nigerian emergency management stakeholders, organised by NEMA with facilitators from Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC), Ahmed said the agency has already begun its preparation as evidenced in the capacity training seminar.
“This year I expect stakeholders including the states government to ensure early preparation and to match words with action,” he said.
While commending the course participants and resource persons for a robust engagements, he advised the heads of State emergency agencies that participated at the seminar to cascade the knowledge gained to their respective States.
The NEMA DG said the seminar was conceived to improve capacity of disaster managers and specifically packaged to address common challenges in Nigeria with world-class ideas.
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