By Abdullahi Lukman
The Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mrs. Zubaida Umar, has announced the rollout of a nationwide public awareness and grassroots engagement campaign aimed at improving flood disaster preparedness across Nigeria.
Speaking in Abuja on Thursday, May 15, at the 2025 National Preparedness and Response Campaign (NPRC) workshop, Umar stressed that flood-related disasters are a recurring threat that require local-level action and broad-based public involvement.
“All disaster is local. Communities must take charge before external help arrives,” she said, adding that NEMA will deploy teams to every state to deliver early warning messages.
The campaign will actively involve traditional rulers, religious leaders, women, youth, and media organizations to ensure no community is left behind in the effort to combat floods.
Umar warned of the devastating toll of annual floods, including loss of life, destruction of infrastructure worth billions of naira, and widespread displacement.
Based on forecasts from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), NEMA anticipates unpredictable rainfall, heatwaves, and dry spells in 2025—conditions that could severely impact agriculture, health, energy, and transportation sectors.
To mitigate these risks, NEMA is implementing a comprehensive response plan. Measures include producing vulnerability maps for high-risk communities, setting up early warning systems, and delivering targeted messages in local languages via community radio, in partnership with the National Orientation Agency (NOA).
Other strategies include capacity-building for local responders, infrastructure assessments, and promoting rainwater harvesting.
Umar highlighted recent achievements such as the creation of functional local emergency management committees in Kaduna State, with plans to replicate the model nationwide.
She emphasized that NEMA’s partnership with NiMET and other agencies is proactive, with preparations having started long before recent weather updates.
She called on state governments and the media to actively participate in disaster risk reduction, advocating for a shift from reactive to proactive response at the community level.
“We are aligning these efforts with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda under President Bola Tinubu,” she added.
Also speaking at the event, Mr. Idris Mohammed, Director of Disaster Risk Reduction at NEMA, described the workshop as a rallying call for action.
He underscored the urgency of developing innovative, collaborative strategies to build community resilience and reduce the impact of floods.
“Our goal is clear—to enhance Nigeria’s capacity to prepare for and respond to flood disasters through partnerships and innovation,” Mohammed stated, thanking stakeholders for their expertise and commitment.