The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-OCHA) has offered to collaborate with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) towards providing supports to communities affected by the 2022 flood in the country of Nigeria.

The Head of UN-OCHA Nigeria, Trond Jensen, disclosed this during a visit to NEMA headquarters in Abuja.

Mr. Jensen said the UN-OCHA was prepared to support in the areas of assessment, information management, resource mobilization and capacity enhancement towards building resilience in the affected communities and helping the affected persons to recover from the disaster.

In addition, he said in line with its coordination mandates, the UN-OCHA would identify and request the supports of relevant agencies of the United Nations in Nigeria to also deploy available assistance to the affected communities.

However, he noted that UN-OCHA was aware of the significance of working with the relevant agencies of the Nigerian Government, which NEMA had been identified as suitable platform for provision of the supports.

NEMA assures of collaboration with UN-OCHA

Responding, Director General of NEMA, Mustapha Habib Ahmed, appreciated UN-OCHA for the offer of support to the affected persons and communities. He assured of the collaboration of NEMA with the UN-OCHA.

“I am delighted to welcome you to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Your visit today is most timely, especially during this most challenging moment. Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, you are all aware that as disaster managers and emergency responders, we are passing through a most challenging moment.

“I appreciate your continuous intervention to the prolonged humanitarian crisis in the North East region, supporting NEMA to develop a joint humanitarian action plan and capacity building for the Agency’s staff. I believe that your visit today will provide us the opportunity for a greater conversation on supporting people impacted by the ongoing flood disaster and other conflicts especially in the North West and North Central states of Nigeria.”
Mustapha Habib Ahmed

The recent flood disaster that has affected the entire Nigerian federation coupled with the prolonged humanitarian crisis in the North East region, banditry in the North West and North Central states, political agitation in the South East region and environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region have no doubt created a cocktail of challenging events for NEMA and its partners.

“Yet, we are not relenting in our efforts at disaster risk management, building of national resilience and relief service delivery for Nigerians in distress.”
NEMA

Damage caused by recent floods

The current flood disaster outlook indicates that all the 36 States of the Federation and the FCT have been impacted with 612 persons reported dead; 3,219,780 affected; 1,427,370 persons displaced and 2,776 others injured.

A total of 181,600 houses are partially damaged; 123,807 houses are totally damaged; 176,852 hectares of farmland are partially damaged, while 392,300 hectares of farmland are totally destroyed. There is a widespread environmental dislocation.

NEMA has been working closely with State Governments and all relevant partners to ensure that live saving assistance is delivered in a well-coordinated and effective manner.

“We have delivered humanitarian relief assistance in form of food, non-food items and basic house hold utensils to support the efforts of state governments. So far, we have reached over 1, 427,370 displaced persons in 28 states and the FCT. The intervention is still ongoing.”
NEMA

NEMA has deployed its emergency response assets including mobile water purification equipment, search and rescue boats and Mobile Intensive Care Unit (MICUs) Ambulances to conduct lifesaving first aid and support to vulnerable populations.

Some of the challenges NEMA faced include the slow movement of both human and material assets in addition to relief items due to flood and quite often washed away roads, bridges and other issues of safety and security in some areas.