NEMA ISSUES WARNING ON POSSIBILITY OF MORE FLOODING IN THE COMING DAYS
The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA has warned that there will be more flooding in the coming days.
This according to the Agency is because of the rising water levels in Rivers Niger and Benue.
It was reported that Anambra, Niger, Edo, Jigawa and Bayelsa states were hit by floods last week with about seventy deaths reported and thousands of people displaced.
The Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Maihaja, however, warned that the situation could get worse as water inflow into River Niger and River Benue was so huge that both rivers could only accommodate less than two meters of water before they would overflow their banks into nearby communities.
The Agency had called for the evacuation of people living in communities on the floodplains to avoid further loss of lives.
Meanwhile, the Director of Search and Rescue at NEMA, Air Commodore Akugbe Iyamu has stated that the agency had placed all disaster units across the country on red alert to avoid any catastrophic disaster in the country.
Air Commodore Iyamu, stated this in Ilorin, Kwara State when a team from NEMA paid a visit to the Two-Two-Two Batalion, Sobi Military Cantonment, Ilorin and Three-O-Three Medium Airlift Group of the Nigeria Air Force.
The visit is part of efforts to ensure that prompt actions are taken by the Air Force immediately they receive a distress call from any part of the country where people are trapped.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday last week had delegated authority to the Director General of NEMA to declare a “national disaster’’ if the anticipated flooding become a reality in parts of the country.
The President’s directive was contained in a letter entitled ‘Situation Report on the River Flood along the Banks of Rivers Benue and Niger’, which was signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari.
The President also authorized the Director General of NEMA to ensure the procurement and proportionate stocking of relief materials and health-related items worth about three billion naira to provide for the needs of flood victims.
The NEMA Director General was also directed to provide regular updates on the situation.
The President’s directive follows a warning by NEMA and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency that Rivers Benue and Niger have almost reached levels that resulted in flooding in 2012, which led to the loss of lives and destruction of property.
FRANCIS UMEH