Worried by the large-scale flood disaster across the country, the federal government said it has approved about 4,000 metric tonnes of grains, which is equivalent to 400 trailers, to be distributed across the country to cushion the effect of the disaster.
The director-general of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Mustapha Habib Ahmed disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, during an event to mark the 2022 International Day For Disaster Risk Reduction.
Ahmed said NEMA was working towards providing food items and non-food items to each state of the federation, to reduce the effect of the flood disaster.
He said despite the early warnings on the disaster, from relevant agencies in the country, Nigerians have failed to heed to these warnings.
The NEMA DG therefore called on all tiers of government, private individuals, business organisations and development partners to embrace, support and take practical actions in promoting multi-hazard early warning systems in Nigeria.
He stated that this is the time Nigerians must take collective responsibility at various levels of governance to invest in the early warning system, early actions and preparedness that are people-centred, community oriented and popularity driven.
Ahmed stressed the importance of strengthening the existing early warning systems and striving to design new ones in tandem with the global expectations, adding that it behoves on all to adhere to early warnings and undertake necessary actions that will minimize impacts and reduce risks.
He maintained that NEMA would continue to review the progress and trends in strengthening effectiveness of early warning and early action, review contributions from different approaches, as well as the applications of the lessons learned through the lenses of anticipatory early actions.
The NEMA DG explained that the annual event was set aside to promote a culture of risk awareness and disaster reduction to enhance community resilience, as well as encourage effective multi-stakeholder coordination mechanisms and multi-sector collaboration to build disaster resilient communities across the world.
He continued: “The theme of this year which is “Early Warning and Early Action for ALL” is drawn from Target G of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 “Substantially increase the availability of and Access to Multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster risk information and assessments to people by 2030.
The theme is quite germane as disaster risk reduction becomes the dominant paradigm towards building resilience and promoting sustainable development in the face of new and emerging disaster challenges.
This is achieved through effective early warning and early action to reduce impacts of disaster and emergencies.
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