NEMA urges Nigerians to prepare for effects of climate change

WITH the increasing changing weather patterns, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has warned Nigerians to prepare for the challenging effects of climate change in their daily lives.

   Director General NEMA, Alhaji Muhammad Sani-Sidi stated this in Abuja, at the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Nigeria: Preparing for United Nations world conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan.

    Sani-Sidi said the proposed conference was targeted at discussing the vulnerability of the people and building resilience to effects of climate change.

    The DG, who was represented by Director Disaster Risk Reduction, Alhaji Alhasan Nuh, said, “For the past ten years, emphasis on disaster management has evolved from a disaster to risk reduction. From waiting to respond to the impact of disasters to reducing the vulnerability of the people and applying mitigation measures before a disaster occurs.

    “For those that still doubt that climate change is a reality, scientists have more evidence that the world really is getting hotter. After tallying worldwide data, researchers at National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), found that 2014 was the hottest year since temperature data has been recorded.”

    Sani-Sidi continued, “Temperatures have been consistently recorded since 1880, providing well over a century of data. On average, 2014 turned out to beat the average temperature of any other year since 1880 with 0.69 degrees Celsius (about 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit), higher than the average for the 20th century.

    “According to the report, the 2014 temperatures were part of a larger trend, because nine of the ten highest temperatures have been recorded since the year 2000. We therefore need to brace up and scale up on our preparedness as a nation in reducing the vulnerability and the underlying risk factors in our communities.”

     He stressed that NEMA like its counterpart in world over has adopted the compelling shift in disaster management in the last 5 years.

    “We are collaborating with six Nigerian universities for capacity development in disaster risk management, mainstreaming DRR/Climate Change Adaptation into basic and post basic education curricula.”