The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, has revealed plans of the ministry to develop a national, multi-sectoral flood emergency preparedness and response plan towards disaster risk reduction of flooding hazards in the country.
She made the revelation Monday in Abuja during the inaugural inter-ministerial meeting for the development of national flood emergency preparedness and response plan.
In attendance at the event were the ministers of Health, Agriculture and Rural Development, Information and Culture, Interior, Water Resources, the Directors-General of Nigeria Television Agency, News Agency of Nigeria, National Orientation Agency, Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, Nigerian Meteorological Agency, National Emergency Management Agency, among others.
Addressing the media during the event, Farouq said the meeting was to compare notes in order for different ministers and agencies to brace up for flood mitigations in different parts of the country, in line with their different mandates.
She said: “All stakeholders present here today are either first responders or stakeholders in disaster risk management and are currently engaged in the ongoing response to flooding. Based on reports and concerns raised by the Ministry of Water Resources and NEMA, and given the multi-sectoral nature of disasters in general, it is pertinent that we are all here to develop a national multi-sectoral/flood emergency preparedness and response plan towards disaster risk reduction of flooding hazards in the country.
“In more specific terms, the meeting is to review and adopt the terms of reference of the high level committee and the other committees, identify critical technical stakeholders to form the membership of the Technical Sub-Committee, set and approve realistic timelines to developing the new plan, share information on the 2020 response to flooding (thus far) and understand existing disaster management resources that provide the framework for flooding disasters, receive briefing on the efforts of the various stakeholder MDAs.
“The President has directed the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD) to provide inter-ministerial coordination towards this exercise, given our mandate to develop humanitarian policies and provide effective coordination of national and international humanitarian interventions. Thus, FMHADMSD is to ensure strategic disaster mitigation, preparedness and response as well as manage the formulation and implementation of equity focused social inclusion and protection programmes in Nigeria.”
Also speaking, the DG of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), Mr Clement Nze, said that the agency is doing everything possible in making sure that the root causes of flood are tacked, as opposed to just making forecasts.
“Virtually all states in Nigeria have suffered flood disasters in different communities this year. This is even beyond what we forecasted in our annual seasonal rainfall outlook for 2020. However, we will be glad to see that root causes of flooding are tackled, as opposed to just making forecasts,” he said.
