The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has urged communities to heed its early warnings and reduce the impacts of floods in Nigeria.
The agency’s Director General, Zubaida Umar, made the call on Wednesday in Dutse while handing over 155,020 litres of liquid fertiliser to the Jigawa government.
Umar, represented by Sani Ahmed, Director of Administration and Finance, said the call was imperative to reduce the impact of floods on communities and properties.
“The most important thing is if advice is given to the communities that there will be flooding, please take that advice seriously. If you’re asked to relocate, please do so; it’s for your safety and property,” Umar said.
She pointed out that communities are responsible for intervening first whenever a disaster occurs, hence the need to heed early warnings from authorities.
“As we have been saying in NEMA, disasters occur in communities, local governments, and states. So, it is the responsibility of that community first to intervene.
“How do they intervene? We give them early warnings and seasonal predictions, including flood-affected areas. So, we expect the communities to intervene by helping themselves before the state or NEMA comes in.
“It is not something that we’re happy doing, but it’s a natural disaster that we cannot prevent, but we can reduce it,” she said.
According her, the 155,020 litres of the liquid fertiliser were supplied as a replacement for the balance of NPK fertiliser.
The fertiliser was approved for the state under the National Food Security Council-Emergency Agricultural Intervention (NFSC-EAI) to help farmers affected by the 2018 flood.
“I’m here to formally hand over this consignment to the Jigawa state government for onward distribution to the beneficiary farmers for their use in the current planting season,” the DG said.
She added that each little is equivalent to 50kg 20-10-10 NPK fertiliser.
Responding, Governor Umar Namadi commended the agency and federal government for the gesture and assured that the items would be distributed to deserving farmers.
The governor, represented by his deputy, Aminu Usman, added that the fertiliser would be handed over to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for onward distribution to the beneficiaries.
He also urged the beneficiaries to use the fertiliser judiciously to enhance food production and food security in their communities, states, and the nation in general.
In his remarks, SEMA’s Executive Secretary in state, Dr Haruna Mairiga, promised that the items would be fairly distributed to the beneficiaries.
