The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has in an emergency meeting held in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, last Tuesday, resolved to collaborate with relevant agencies for a comprehensive response to the issue of flooding in the country.
This was revealed in a communiqué issued and signed by its Chairman, Gov. Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, and made available to newsmen yesterday.
AbdulRazaq said that the forum received a briefing from the Head of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and that of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) on flooding cases around the country.
He said that the forum also deliberated on urgent proactive measures to save lives, livelihood, critical infrastructure and safeguarding national food security.
“Members resolved to collaborate with relevant agencies at arriving at a comprehensive and federation response while leveraging the 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP), Annual Flood Outlook (AFO), flood risk maps, and the Climate Related Disaster Preparedness and Mitigation Strategy”, he said.
AbdulRazaq said NEMA briefed the governors on how to achieve shared goals of building a safer and more resilient Nigeria in the face of the growing rate of occurrence of disasters globally.
He added that NEMA called on state governors to set up functional State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs), Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) and community volunteers with adequate legal backing, funding and trained manpower.
AbdulRazaq said that NEMA also called on governors to support knowledge, assets and experience sharing between states, the agency and other responsible partners.
“NEMA also called on governors to support the signing of Mutual Aid Agreements between States as disaster hit different geographical spaces at different times.
“To encourage private sector participation as part of its corporate social responsibility.
“Foster policy alignment and community engagement for Disaster Risk Reduction.
“According to the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) every dollar invested in risk reduction and prevention can save up to $15 in post disaster recovery.’’
He said that the governors requested NEMA and NiMet to develop a comprehensive partnership framework to drive their engagement with states.
