FEMA begins assessment of flood prone areas to prevent disaster

Hudu Yakubu, Abuja

The Federal Capital Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has began thorough assessment of flood prone areas to prevent flood disaster that could led to loss of lives and properties in the terriory.

The Director-General of FEMA, Alhaji Abbas Idriss, kickstart the exercise on Galadima roundabout in Abuja Nigeria’s capital.

Idriss noted that FEMA don’t believe in distributing relief materials but preventing disaster in line with the United Nations programme on disaster management.

Idriss also stated the mandate of the agency was purely to manage human and material resources with a view to fight any kind of disaster in the terriory.

He explained that the 2021 rainfall climate prediction recently released by the Nigeria Metrological Agency (NiMet) had revealed that there was going to be normal to above normal rain fall patterns.

Idriss said that the FCT had never experienced that type of rain fall for the past 10 years, adding that it was expected that the rain fall in this part of the country is going to start between May and June.

According to him, the rain we see now is not meant for planting, farmers shouldn’t plant because of this rain that they are seeing, they have to wait.

” I am sure agriculture extension workers and the Agriculture and Rural Develoment Secretariat should take note that the rain is not meant for farming.

” There could be a situation whereby you have the money but there is no food to buy that is what we are trying to avoid,” he said.

He disclosed that FEMA had carried out needs assessment immediate after the 2020 flood disaster which claimed the lives of seven people in FCT.

He said that the agency discovered that some areas needs to be taken care of by either the Department of Develoment Control Department or Satellite Towns Department or Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB).

” And that is the reason why we are here. We will go round the territory and take stocks of those areas. There is an area that we saw very close to the city, the Life camp roundabout.

He revealed that last week the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, received a complained that somebody was diverting the waterways.

” And by the time we went there we saw caterpillars diverting the waterways to another paths living his area where he wants to build illegally.

” So. A lots of activities are going on in the city which are causing flooding and at the end of the day we now put blames to the government that it is not doing there jobs,” he said.

The DG, therefore, called for a collective responsibility by all residents of the FCT to prevent flooding in the terriory.

He said that  already the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency had predicted flood this year again but it had not come out with the outlook to show in the FCT which Area Councils was going to be affected.

” As we wait for the full details of that we have to prepare to mitigate flooding in the FCT”, he added

The flood assessment team led by Florence Wenegieme, Deputy Director, Forecasting Response and Mitigation, visited Angwa Dodo and Giri Community, in Gwagwalada Area Council, Trademo Estate and Dogon Gada.

Wenegieme said the assessment would enable FEMA and other relevant agencies know the condition of the areas for better condition toward to mitigate disaster.