The Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency, Mustapha Ahmed, has issued a warning that there is a high risk of coastal flooding in the states of Bayelsa, Delta, Lagos, and Rivers as a result of the anticipated rise in sea level and tidal surge that may negatively affect agriculture, human settlements, and transportation.
At the public presentation of the 2023 Climate-related Disaster Preparation and Mitigation Plans, organised jointly by the Nigerian Hydrological Services and Nigerian Meteorological Agency, Ahmed presented this speech on Thursday in Abuja.
According to the NEMA director, the 2022 flood left 3,181 people injured across the nation and claimed 665 lives.
Ahmed added that a total of 4,476,867 persons were also affected by the flood while 2,437,411 persons were displaced, about 944,989 farmlands were damaged and 355,986 houses were partially or totally destroyed by floods.
He said: “Sequel to the public presentation of the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP) by NiMet on January 24, 2023, and Annual Flood Outlook by NIHSA on February 17, 2023, the National Emergency Management Agency convened a technical meeting to review the two forecast documents.
“The technical meeting was attended by experts from relevant stakeholder organizations that thoroughly appraised the risk implications of the forecasts and developed an early warning document based on thematic sectors covered by both NIHSA and NIMET.”
