Flooding: FEMA, World Bank review ‘preparedness’ plans

By Stanley Onyekwere

Following the 2022 devastating floods, which ravaged the country, displacing 1.4 million Nigerians, killing over 600 persons, the World Bank in conjunction with the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) organised an interactive meeting with other key stakeholders to review preparedness plans.
In a welcome remark at the meeting, the Acting Director General of FEMA, Mr. Mohammed Ibrahim Sabo stressed the importance of proactive measures rather than reactive approach +in tackling flooding.
According to a statement from
Head, Public Affairs at FEMA, Nkechi Isa, the DG stated that the meeting will enable responders review their response plan in 2022 with a view to improving on their activities.
It added Sabo, while noting that most flood disasters in the FCT were human induced, however appealed to residents to always heed to the early warnings put out by FEMA to mitigate the impact of disasters.
Speaking earlier, the Head of Operations, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Abuja Office, Mr. Justin Uwazuruonye, explained that the meeting was to review emergency preparedness, recovery and response in 2022, what happened, gaps in the response and how to improve.
Also, in a brief, the Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank, Mr. Nkem Joseph-Palmer noted that when disasters happen, communities are the first to be impacted.
The World Bank scribe said: “How are we engaging at the community levels and at the Federal level. What are we doing and what can we do better?”
He reiterated that the meeting was an assessment exercise for the country to enable the World Bank provide technical expertise and support for emergency responders in the country.
He added that the template for the survey is based on the following framework; legal policy, human resources, equipment, early warning and deployment of information technology to respond and improve emergency management.
He noted that the Country lost about 7 trillion naira to the 2022 floods which amounted to about 41.4 % of it’s GDP.
He also emphasized the importance of multi- hazard early warning system in mitigating the impact of flooding in Nigeria.
Similarly, in his remarks, the World Bank consultant, Mr. Al Hassan Nuhu, disclosed that the exercise, which is the pilot and will be replicated in the country’s 6 geopolitical zones.
Nuhu added that the aim of the survey is to assist the World Bank identify areas of assistance to ensure that no live is lost to flooding and that no one is left behind.
Representatives of Local Emergency Management Councils(LEMC) from AMAC, Gwagwalada, Kwali and Abaji as well as community based Organisations participated in the survey.
The LEMC admitted that they lacked basic equipment required for emergencies during heavy floods.
They also lamented the absence of Standard Operating Procedures,(SOPs), and guidelines.