By Fabian Ekeruche
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says the 2022 floods impacted 16,000 families, while 6,000 farmers lost various seedlings and farm produce in Lagos State.
The Lagos Coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office, NEMA, Mr Ibrahim Farinloye, said this in a statement on Friday in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the statement was issued against the backdrop of NEMA/World Bank initiative on strengthening resilience and lessons learned from the 2022 flood disaster.
Farinloye quoted the Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji Mustapha Ahmed, as saying that various sectors of the economy were affected by floods in Lagos State in 2022.
Ahmed said about 16,000 families were impacted and about 6,000 farmers lost various seedings and farm produce as a result of many floods in 2022.
He said various sectors of the economy impacted by the 2022 floods with their data specific to Lagos State, gaps analyses with suggestions that various actors were expected to be more active.
Ahmed also emphasised the need to reappraise all efforts carried out on every incident that occurred, identify gaps, bridge the gaps for effective and efficient response.
He said due to the events of 2022, the agency directed the Lagos Territorial Office and other NEMA field offices to ensure that losses were mitigated and resilience of Nigerians strengthened in 2023 rainy season.
This, he said, was the reason for the drastic reduction in losses in 2023 though with doubled amount of rainfalls compared with the 2022 season.
Ahmed expressed gratitude to the participants in attendance and promised to assist in capacity building of other stakeholders.
He said the request by other stakeholders for retraining of water rescue and safety which NEMA had planned for the lead agencies and at the federal and state levels was still in process.
NEMA expressed gratitude to the synergy and partnership it has been enjoying from partners either individually or collectively.
Farinloye said the Permanent Secretary of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, expressed gratitude to NEMA and the World Bank for selecting Lagos State to represent South West geo-political zone as a point of reference.
Osanyintolu enjoined the World Bank to facilitate capacity building for his staff.
Farinloye said the World Bank Team lead, Mr Joseph- Palmer Nkem, narrated the efforts of NEMA in achieving the approval of the World Bank in conducting the exercise. (NAN)
