Flood: Adhere to climate forecasts, NEMA tells Niger, Kwara residents

• Women farmers beg Nasarawa govt to intervene
• Oxfam, CISLAC others identify causes of food insufficiency

National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called on residents of Niger and Kwara states to adhere to the Seasonal Climate Prediction by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Flood Outlook by Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA).

The Head, NEMA, Minna Operations Office, Zanaib Saidu, made the call in a statement to commemorate the 2022 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDDR) in Minna, Niger State.

The 2022 IDDR focuses on target G of the Sendei Framework; to substantially increase the availability and access to multi-hazard early warning system and disaster risk information as well as assessment to people by 2030.

Sai’du explained that the call became necessary to avoid recurrence of the 2022 flood that ravaged several communities across the two states.

The agency has also unveiled a $300,000 monitoring and communication facility to tackle flood in remote villages.

NEMA DG, Mustapha Ahmed, who commissioned the facility, yesterday, in Abuja, said that King Salman Humanitarian Aid Relief Centre (KS Relief) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia donated it.

Ahmed explained: “The real-time monitoring and communication equipment and proposed relief assistance are timely and could not have come at a better time than now when the country is bearing the brunt of widespread flood disaster with 603 lives lost, 1,302,589 people displaced and critical assets, including roads and farmlands, washed away.”

MEANWHILE, smallholder women farmers in Nasarawa State have appealed to the state government to prioritise their livelihood to curb the looming food scarcity due to the current devastation by flood across the country.

At a press conference in Lafia, yesterday, to mark the World Food Day (WFD), spokesperson for the group, Mrs. Julie Zinya, who is the Treasurer of Small Scale Women Farmers Organisation of Nigeria (SWOFON), said the current flood in the state affected over 50,000 women farmers.

While warning that if urgent measures are not put in place, food scarcity is inevitable in the country, the group, made up of Association of Small Scale Agro Produces in Nigeria (ASSAPIN) and SWOFON, commended Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), with support from OXFAM, for its support.
CISLAC and OXFAM have said that some of the challenges facing small scale farmers include poor access and ownership of farmlands by women, insecurity and the difficulties in accessing micro credits, loans and subsidies.

While commemorating this year’s WFD in Bauchi, the duo, in partnership with ASSAPIN, SWOFON and other groups, at an event tagged ‘Leave No One Behind, clamoured for availability and affordability of food in the country.

Leader of the coalition, Aisha Jibrin, reading the joint statement, harped on availability and accessibility of food to every citizen.