2012 flood disaster displaced 2mn families

In Adamawa State, the heavy rainfalls caused floods that killed two people and ravaged properties worth millions of naira.

Professor Edwin Iguisi said that Nigeria also lost about N2.6 trillion.

No fewer than two million families in Nigeria were displaced following the flood that ravaged 28 states in 2012, Professor Edwin Iguisi, an expert in disaster risk management, said on Tuesday.

Mr. Iguisi, the Director, Centre for Disaster Risk Management and Development Studies, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, said this at opening of a three-day workshop held in Zaria.

The workshop entitled: “Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan”, was organised by the centre.

The director quoted the report of a Joint Assessment Team led by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) in collaboration with the UN.

He said that Nigeria also lost about N2.6 trillion being the value of destroyed physical and durable asset as well as total value of losses across all sectors of economic activity.

“The overall impact of the flood on real GDP growth is estimated at N1.4 per cent (N750 billion in nominal terms).

“Recovery and reconstruction needs have been estimated to be about N1.138 trillion.

“The disaster was caused by a combination of heavy rains and unwholesome land use practices throughout the entire catchments areas of the Niger and Benue Rivers.

“At the end of the flood, 28 states were affected, comprising 254 Local Government Areas and 3,870 communities.”

In his keynote address, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Environment, David Chatjok, said that everyone was a stakeholder as far as environment issues were concerned in Nigeria.

He stressed the need for government agencies, researchers, policy makers and students, among others, to work toward making the environment safe.

In his speech, the ABU Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, decried the indiscriminate abuse of the environment with polythene bags, saying that in the next 20 to 30 years, farm cultivation would be “extremely difficult”.

Mr. Mustapha observed the lack of quick response by concerned authorities, poor medical preparedness, lack of experts in the field and inability to urgently establish shelters and camps for victims, among others, as serious challenges in emergency situations.


-- Premium Times