Floodings in Nigeria
OVER one million Nigerians may die due to the effect of flooding if
no precautionary measure is taken, the National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA) has said.
NEMA said if the Lake Nyos Dam in Cameroon
collapses, a development it sees happening in the next three years,
Nigeria will be the worse for it, considering the effect the release of
over 55 million cubic metres of water will have on the country.
The Director-General of NEMA, Muhammed Sani-Sidi, who revealed this in Abuja, on Thursday, said a 2005 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report had predicted the collapse of the dam in less than 10 years.
Sani-Sidi, represented at the event by the Director of
Administration in the agency, Zanna Muhammad, said the report had it
that the collapse of the dam would be caused by gradual erosion from
rain, wind and lake water, or as a result of violent volcanic eruption.
“It is estimated that between Cameroon border and River Benue, 50 settlements, including Katsina-Ala, Kashimbilla, Waya, Manga, Gamovo, Andie, Terwegh and over 15,000 hectares of land will be flooded.
“Also, over one million people and 20,000 herds of cattle and other livestock will be affected and could perish,” he said.
Meanwhile, passengers and motorists stranded on the Lokoja-Abuja highway as a result of the overflooding of the road by River Niger will continue their journey today, as the road will be re-opened.
It was gathered at the construction site at Banda, on Thursday, that the construction companies had started sand and stone filling of the water.
One of the spokepersons for Gitto Construction Company, Mr Ajani Adeyemo, disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that the road, which was diverted as a result of the flood, would be completed by Thursday night.
He said that they were working round the clock to finish the job, since it was an emergency, adding that by today people would start to ply the road.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 60 residents of Ibuluya Dikibo community in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State are now receiving medical attention, following a pipeline gas leakage in the area.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the gas leakage was as a result of a ruptured pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC).
Confirming the development, chairman of the council, Tamuno William, said about 60 persons had already been hospitalised when they inhaled the gas emitting from the leak.
This is just as youths from the communities, on Thursday, staged a peaceful protest over the failure by the NNPC to repair the pipes and control the leakage.
When contacted, the Manager, Public Affairs, Port Harcourt Refinery, Ralf Ogbu, blamed the youth for the delay in putting the situation under control.
Flood claims 104 lives, displaces 50,000 in N/CentralThe Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Mohammed Abdulsalam, has declared that the raging flood in the North-Central zone of the country had claimed no fewer than 104 lives in the last two months and displaced over 50,000 others.
Abdulsalam, who disclosed this at a workshop on Awareness, Preparedness and Response to Emergencies at local levels in Jos, Plateau Stated said local and state governments in the North-Central zone had been overwhelmed by the flood.
He said apart from the 104 lives that were lost to the flood, over 150,000 people were affected while over 50,000 were displaced, adding that those affected by the disaster were still going through hardship that required urgent intervention.
The NEMA coordinator further revealed that the Federal Government, through NEMA, had spent over N300 million to purchase relief materials, drugs among others to provide succour to the victims.
He declared that the excessive flooding experienced in 26 states of the federation was due to the release of water from dams, opening of spill ways to release excess water, blockage of drainage systems and heavy rainfall.
According to Abdulsalam, there cannot be any serious delivery of emergency management service, let alone building a sustainable culture of preparedness, prevention, response and community resilience to disasters without conscientious mechanism for collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders.
“Lack of collaboration and cooperation and weak coordination is the bane of disaster management in Nigeria. Diverse stakeholders operate in isolation with neither collaboration nor coordination. This often leads to inefficiency in the use of scarce resources, overlapping of activities, duplication of action and general confusion.” he said.
Delivering a paper entitled: “Understanding Contingency Planning,” a representative of OXFAM, an NGO involved in food security and disaster management, Mr Afolabi Olayinka, said contingency planning was a tool for preparedness and prevention.
Oshiomhole seeks FG’s action, judicious use of ecological fund •As NEMA urges residents of coastal areas to move uplandGovernor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, on Thursday, called on the Federal Government to act fast and make judicious use of the National Ecological Fund in the management of flood disasters in the country.
Oshiomhole made the call when the Director- General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, paid a courtesy visit to Edo State to ascertain the level of damage caused by flood in Etsako Central, Etsako East and Esan South- East Local Government Areas of the state.
The governor said the state government would collaborate with NEMA to provide solution to the flood problem.
According to him, “we all appear completely helpless. The Federal Government ought to do more than it has done. The situation calls for a far more drastic response."
Oshiomhole said the real challenge was for the Federal government and not the states, pointing out that, “we are doing what we can in Edo State to provide materials and deploy doctors and nurses to check the medical needs. We need to act fast because it is a national calamity.”
He observed that there were long term implications as farmlands had been destroyed and domestic animals killed.
On his part, the Director-General of NEMA commiserated with the government and people of the state over the human and material losses incurred.
He said, “disaster occurrences and the number of people affected by them have risen significantly in recent years as a result of the impacts of climate change, and increased human activities. Similarly, economic losses from disasters, both natural and manmade have escalated.”
Meanwhile, NEMA has advised advised people living in the coastal areas of the Niger to move to the upland as more rain was being expected.
Alhaji Sani Sidi gave this advice when he visited some camps of displaced persons in Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo sTATE.
He pleaded with the people to heed the advice as their lives were precious to the nation.
FG vows to find lasting solution to floodAS negative impacts of flood continue to hit parts of the country, the Federal Government has assured victims that it will address their sufferings and provide adequate relief materials for them, in addition to coming up with long term strategies to avoid future occurrence of the disaster.
A statement from the Federal Ministry of Works disclosed that the Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, led a delegation to Lokoja where the team inspected the flood-ravaged areas.
The minister, during the visit, described the negative impacts of the flood as a national emergency and noted that President Goodluck Jonathan had already ordered an immediate solution to the problem.
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The Director-General of NEMA, Muhammed Sani-Sidi, who revealed this in Abuja, on Thursday, said a 2005 United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report had predicted the collapse of the dam in less than 10 years.
“It is estimated that between Cameroon border and River Benue, 50 settlements, including Katsina-Ala, Kashimbilla, Waya, Manga, Gamovo, Andie, Terwegh and over 15,000 hectares of land will be flooded.
“Also, over one million people and 20,000 herds of cattle and other livestock will be affected and could perish,” he said.
Meanwhile, passengers and motorists stranded on the Lokoja-Abuja highway as a result of the overflooding of the road by River Niger will continue their journey today, as the road will be re-opened.
It was gathered at the construction site at Banda, on Thursday, that the construction companies had started sand and stone filling of the water.
One of the spokepersons for Gitto Construction Company, Mr Ajani Adeyemo, disclosed to the Nigerian Tribune that the road, which was diverted as a result of the flood, would be completed by Thursday night.
He said that they were working round the clock to finish the job, since it was an emergency, adding that by today people would start to ply the road.
Meanwhile, no fewer than 60 residents of Ibuluya Dikibo community in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State are now receiving medical attention, following a pipeline gas leakage in the area.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the gas leakage was as a result of a ruptured pipeline belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC).
Confirming the development, chairman of the council, Tamuno William, said about 60 persons had already been hospitalised when they inhaled the gas emitting from the leak.
This is just as youths from the communities, on Thursday, staged a peaceful protest over the failure by the NNPC to repair the pipes and control the leakage.
When contacted, the Manager, Public Affairs, Port Harcourt Refinery, Ralf Ogbu, blamed the youth for the delay in putting the situation under control.
Flood claims 104 lives, displaces 50,000 in N/CentralThe Zonal Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mr Mohammed Abdulsalam, has declared that the raging flood in the North-Central zone of the country had claimed no fewer than 104 lives in the last two months and displaced over 50,000 others.
Abdulsalam, who disclosed this at a workshop on Awareness, Preparedness and Response to Emergencies at local levels in Jos, Plateau Stated said local and state governments in the North-Central zone had been overwhelmed by the flood.
He said apart from the 104 lives that were lost to the flood, over 150,000 people were affected while over 50,000 were displaced, adding that those affected by the disaster were still going through hardship that required urgent intervention.
The NEMA coordinator further revealed that the Federal Government, through NEMA, had spent over N300 million to purchase relief materials, drugs among others to provide succour to the victims.
He declared that the excessive flooding experienced in 26 states of the federation was due to the release of water from dams, opening of spill ways to release excess water, blockage of drainage systems and heavy rainfall.
According to Abdulsalam, there cannot be any serious delivery of emergency management service, let alone building a sustainable culture of preparedness, prevention, response and community resilience to disasters without conscientious mechanism for collaboration and cooperation among stakeholders.
“Lack of collaboration and cooperation and weak coordination is the bane of disaster management in Nigeria. Diverse stakeholders operate in isolation with neither collaboration nor coordination. This often leads to inefficiency in the use of scarce resources, overlapping of activities, duplication of action and general confusion.” he said.
Delivering a paper entitled: “Understanding Contingency Planning,” a representative of OXFAM, an NGO involved in food security and disaster management, Mr Afolabi Olayinka, said contingency planning was a tool for preparedness and prevention.
Oshiomhole seeks FG’s action, judicious use of ecological fund •As NEMA urges residents of coastal areas to move uplandGovernor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State, on Thursday, called on the Federal Government to act fast and make judicious use of the National Ecological Fund in the management of flood disasters in the country.
Oshiomhole made the call when the Director- General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Alhaji Sani Sidi, paid a courtesy visit to Edo State to ascertain the level of damage caused by flood in Etsako Central, Etsako East and Esan South- East Local Government Areas of the state.
The governor said the state government would collaborate with NEMA to provide solution to the flood problem.
According to him, “we all appear completely helpless. The Federal Government ought to do more than it has done. The situation calls for a far more drastic response."
Oshiomhole said the real challenge was for the Federal government and not the states, pointing out that, “we are doing what we can in Edo State to provide materials and deploy doctors and nurses to check the medical needs. We need to act fast because it is a national calamity.”
He observed that there were long term implications as farmlands had been destroyed and domestic animals killed.
On his part, the Director-General of NEMA commiserated with the government and people of the state over the human and material losses incurred.
He said, “disaster occurrences and the number of people affected by them have risen significantly in recent years as a result of the impacts of climate change, and increased human activities. Similarly, economic losses from disasters, both natural and manmade have escalated.”
Meanwhile, NEMA has advised advised people living in the coastal areas of the Niger to move to the upland as more rain was being expected.
Alhaji Sani Sidi gave this advice when he visited some camps of displaced persons in Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo sTATE.
He pleaded with the people to heed the advice as their lives were precious to the nation.
FG vows to find lasting solution to floodAS negative impacts of flood continue to hit parts of the country, the Federal Government has assured victims that it will address their sufferings and provide adequate relief materials for them, in addition to coming up with long term strategies to avoid future occurrence of the disaster.
A statement from the Federal Ministry of Works disclosed that the Minister of Works, Mr Mike Onolememen, led a delegation to Lokoja where the team inspected the flood-ravaged areas.
The minister, during the visit, described the negative impacts of the flood as a national emergency and noted that President Goodluck Jonathan had already ordered an immediate solution to the problem.
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