Leave Immediately, River Niger Will Soon Overflow – NEMA Warns Nearby Communities

DailyPost
Following intense rainfall and rise in water level,
the National Emergency Management Agency,
NEMA, has advised communities along the river
Niger to evacuate immediately to safer ground as
a result of the likelihood of floods that may
occur, any moment from now.
Director General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani Sidi
who gave the advice on Saturday said the
agency has received alerts of the flood from
information given by the authorities in the
Republic of Niger that the present water level in
the river had reached a point that may result in
the flood that could be compared with the
unfortunate experience of 2012.
He said “Niger Basin Authority (NBA) notified
Nigeria that rainy season, which started in the
Middle Niger (Burkina Faso and Niger Republic)
in June, 2016, has led to a gradual rise of the
level of River Niger in Niamey, Niger Republic.
This high level of water in Niger Republic is
already spreading to Benin Republic, and
invariably, to Nigeria”.
He disclosed that the level of water in all the
hydrological monitoring stations across the
country, as at Friday August, 2016, had already
exceeded the corresponding values at that time,
which was an alarming situation that required
the prompt and coordinated action of all
governments and stakeholders.
“If the heavy rainfall continues in intensity and
duration within these regions of the River Niger,
it is imminent that flood situation similar to that
of the year 2012 may occur”, he added.m
The NEMA DG then called on all stakeholders to
take necessary actions in line with their various
mandates.
He added that, “The states and local government
are to ensure observance with the threat in order
to avert imminent loss of lives and properties
that might certainly arise in the event of flood.”
Sidi identified the states along the river Niger
belts as being the most vulnerable as well as
those along its major tributaries that includes
Benue river belts, the confluence states and
downstream to the Atlantic Coast.
NEMA Zonal and Operation offices, he noted,
have been instructed to continue with advocacy
visit to the state governments and also urged
the state to utilize the flood vulnerability maps
given to them earlier by NEMA to identify safer
ground for temporary shelters in time of
evacuation as well as reviewing all their
contingency plans.