Nigerian disaster agency warns of floods in the south

Clement Nwoji in AllAfrica.com via the Daily Champion (Nigeria): National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advised governors of South-South states to take proactive measures against floods and thunderstorm that could wreak havoc in their communities during the rainy season after the devastating effect so far witnessed in other regions of the country.

Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi who gave the warning at a special regional workshop on climate change in Asaba, Delta State said the state governments should initiate policies that could help in reducing the impacts of climate change and include disaster management in their various developmental programmes to minimize avoidable losses of lives and property.

Sani-Sidi said though climate change was a global challenge, it comes with peculiar hazards and risks thereby exposing communities to devastating consequences. He therefore urged the states that were yet established their own functional Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and Local Government Emergency Committees (LEMCs) to do so.

The NEMA Director-General in a release by the NEMA Head of Public Relations, Yushau Shuiab said these were necessary to provide the suitable platform for dealing with disaster issues at the grassroots to promote community resilience and spontaneous responses.

"We must do everything possible at national, states and community levels to adapt and take proactive measures needed to ensure that individuals and communities are capable of dealing with the detrimental impacts of climate change" he said, adding that collective efforts were necessary to either prevent disasters or mitigate their effects....