20% of Nigerians at risk of flooding, says NEMA

Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Maihaja, yesterday disclosed that about 20 per cent of Nigerians are at risk of flooding in the country.

He stated this during an interactive session with stakeholders in Abuja to map out plan of action ahead of this year’s wet season. He said the agency has commenced moves to prevent continued reoccurrence of floods through early preparedness, mitigation and flood prevention mechanism.

Maihaja pointed out that to address future flooding in the country, NEMA in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment made a joint presentation to the National Economic Council (NEC) and considered the need to put measures and procedures in place to mitigate future floods.

“Consequently, the council agreed that a federal coordinating unit be set up to identify locations for critical action, as immediate doable measures executable within a short time.

Maihaja explained that the sharing formula for the project includes, Federal Government (30%), states (30%) and Presidential committee of Flood Relief and Rehabilitation (40%), in addition to joint supervision of the project.