Flood: NEMA urges communities to heed early warnings

Agency Report

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged communities to heed to its early warnings to reduce impacts of flood in Nigeria.

The Director- General of the agency, Zubaida Umar, made the call on Wednesday in Dutse, while handing over 155,020 litres of liquid fertiliser to Jigawa government.

Umar, represented by Sani Ahmed, Director of Administration and Finance, said the call was imperative in order to reduce the impact of flood on communities and properties.

“The most important thing is if an advise is given to the communities that there will be flooding, please take that advise seriously.

“If you’re asked to relocate please do so, it’s for your owns safety and your property,” Umar said.

She pointed out that it was the responsibility of communities to first intervene whenever disaster occurs, hence the need to heed early warnings by authorities.

“As we’ve been saying in NEMA, disaster occurs in a community, in a local government and in a state. So, its the responsibility of that community first to intervene.

“How do they intervene; we give them early warnings, the seasonal predictions, including areas that will be affected by the flood.

“So, we expect the communities to first intervene by helping themselves before the state or NEMA comes in.

“Its not something that we’re happy doing, but it’s a natural disaster that we cannot prevent, but we can reduce it,” she said.

According her, the 155,020 litres of the liquid fertiliser were supplied as replacement of balance of NPK fertiliser.

The fertiliser was approved for the state under the National Food Security Council-Emergency Agricultural Intervention (NFSC-EAI) to farmers affected by 2018 flood in the state.

“I’m here to formally hand over this consignment to Jigawa state government for onward distribution to the beneficiary farmers for their use in current planting season,” the DG said.

She added that each one little is equivalent to 50kg 20-10-10 NPK fertiliser.

Responding, Gov. Umar Namadi commended the agency and federal government for the gesture, assuring that the items would be distributed to deserving farmers.

The governor, represented by his deputy, Aminu Usman, added that the fertiliser would be handed over to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for onward distribution to the beneficiaries.

He also urged the beneficiaries to make judicious use of the fertiliser in order to enhance food production and food security in their communities, state and the nation in general.

In his remarks, SEMA’s Executive Secretary in state, Dr Haruna Mairiga, promised that the items would be fairly distributed to the beneficiaries.