Floods: NEMA records 170 deaths in 15 states

The Executive Director of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Zabaida Umar, has revealed that 179 persons in 15 states across Nigeria have lost their lives to flood disasters since the onset of the 2024 rainy season.

She made this known during a fact-finding visit to the agency by the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Wednesday in Abuja.

The DG stated that Jigawa State recorded the highest number of deaths, with 34 victims, while Bayelsa, Kano, Bauchi, Zamfara, Taraba, Sokoto, and Yobe each had 25, 25, 23, 13, 11, 10, and 10 victims, respectively.

Other states that recorded loss of lives are Adamawa, where seven persons died, Katsina and Niger with five deaths each, Borno, Ebonyi, and Kaduna with two deaths each, and lastly Nasarawa State with one death.

According to her, the agency has continued to offer support to disaster victims with food interventions, farm inputs, relief items, and the resettlement of flood-displaced persons.

“NEMA carried out disaster assessments in almost all the states in the country, such as in Ogun, Rivers, Imo, Lagos, Ekiti, Edo, Kwara, and others. We coordinated the response to 158 emergencies, aiding 118,337 individuals and rescuing 4,706 persons,” she said.

Umar added that 137 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in 28 states were affected by floods this year, impacting 532,600 individuals, of which 208,655 were displaced, 80,049 houses were affected, 2,016 injured, and 107,652 hectares of farmlands were affected.

Speaking on the need to prioritise flood prevention as soon as predictions are out, Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, called on state governments to make more budgetary and other provisions towards flood disaster mitigation to avert avoidable loss of lives and property.

“What is the role of the states in this regard, how do they come in, do we tweak the law so the legislators get the states more involved? These disasters occur in the states, not on the land of the federal government; they are local, so the states must be more involved,” he argued.

He also tasked the management of NEMA to think inwardly and think outside the box towards finding alternative sources of funding for the agency to meet and realise its mandate, which he said is quite broad.

Gbajabiamila pointed out that “the mandate NEMA has is basically too broad, and flooding has been observed as a perennial occurrence in Nigeria, but most times we wait until they happen to take action; this has to change, and that would help in reducing the amount of money that goes into these disasters.

“A lot of funding is required for the work that you do, resources are limited, and we have to prioritise. We must start thinking outside the box and look for more creative ways to fund NEMA’s activities outside the normal budgetary provisions. As we all know, the government cannot do everything or fund everything; it’s not possible.”