Fed Govt asks states to prepare for emergency flood response

Agency Reporter

The Federal Government on Sunday advised state governments to take proactive and other mitigating measures to reduce the effects of heavy rainfalls and flooding on the people.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, gave the advice in a statement in Abuja by her Special Assistant on Media, Mrs. Nneka Anibeze.

Umar Farouq said the states that will experience heavy rainfall and possible flooding this year include: Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Niger, Kogi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Rivers.

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Others are: Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Kwara, Zamfara, Sokoto, Lagos, Ondo, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun, Abia, Kano, Kebbi and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The minister urged the states to identify high grounds to be used as camps, for the evacuation of possible Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and to shelter evacuated communities.

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She also advised them to organise humanitarian coordination fora to prepare all stakeholders for mitigation and response, as well as request for materials for prompt responses after the floods.

Umar Farouq sympathised with residents of Kebbi, Bauchi and Jigawa, following the flooding in parts of the states, which led to the loss of lives and farmlands as well as the displacement of many people.

“The recent floods in parts of those states affirm the need for serious and urgent actions to be taken to safeguard lives and property against the predicted floods.