The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has called for synergy with the Edo government to mitigate flood disasters in the state.

The director general of NEMA, Zubaida Umar, made the call at a one-day sensitisation meeting with the state government and other stakeholders on strategies to avert flooding on Tuesday in Benin.

Ms Umar said the meeting was necessary following the National Meteorological Agency and Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency’s (NIHSA) 2024 flood alert.

She reiterated that some local governments in Edo had been predicted to be among the areas at high and moderate flood risk.

Ms Umar, represented by Daniel Obot, a director in the agency, listed the affected local governments as Etsako East, Etsako-West and Etsako Central; Esan North-East, Esan South-East, Ikpoba-Okha, and Ovia Nort-East.

“The devastating impacts of floods over the years, especially those of 2012 and 2022, have served as a wake-up call to all tiers of governments to collaborate with the NEMA to manage flood-related hazards.

”Thirty-one states with 148 LGAs have been predicted to be within the high flood risk areas, while 35 states, including FCT, with 249 LGAs, are considered to fall within the moderate flood risk areas.

“The remaining 377 LGAs are forecasted for low-flood risk areas.

“These flood risk areas are presented with their degree of vulnerability to serve as a tool for governments at all levels to develop risk reduction measures to avert disaster losses during this rainy season, ” Ms Umar said.

She called for support in the initiative to downscale flood early warning and risk mitigation messages to the grassroots because floods have severely impacted Edo.

“Consequently, all of us are expected to take actions that will drastically reduce the adverse impacts of floods on the entire landscape and the Nigerian population,” she said.

In his remarks, Edo Governor Godwin Obaseki, who welcomed NEMA officials to the state, disclosed that the state government was prepared to handle any eventuality, whether flood-related or not.

Represented by the Commissioner for Public Safety and Security, Kingsley Uwagbale, Mr Obaseki said the state had set up a robust emergency control centre with 112 and 739 emergency call lines for emergency response.

” The last flood exposed our incapacity, and we learnt from that experience by putting up an emergency control centre and a structure anybody coming after us would build upon,” the governor said.

(NAN)