Nigeria Lost over N7tn to 2022 Flooding, Says World Bank

•Reviews preparedness plans with FEMA

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The World Bank has put Nigeria’s loss in the devastating 2022 floods that killed over 600 persons and displayed over 1.4 million Nigerians at over N7 trillion.

The Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank, Nkem Joseph- Palmer, gave the estimation yesterday, at an interactive meeting organised by the World Bank in conjunction with the FCT Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Joseph-Palmer, who noted that when disasters happen, communities are the first to be impacted, said the loss also amounted to about 41.4 percent of the country’s GDP.

“How are we engaging at the community level and at the Federal level? What are we doing and what can we do better?” He said.

He described the meeting as an assessment exercise for the country to enable the World Bank to provide technical expertise and support for emergency responders in the country.

He emphasised the importance of multi- hazard early warning system in mitigating the impact of flooding in Nigeria.

In his remarks, the Acting Director General, FEMA, Mohammed Ibrahim Sabo, stressed the importance of proactive rather than reactive measures in tackling flooding.

He stated that the meeting would enable responders to review their response plan in 2022 to improve on their activities.

Noting that most flood disasters in the FCT were human-induced, Sabo appealed to residents to always heed the early warnings put out by FEMA to mitigate the impact of disasters.

Also speaking, the Head of Operations, NEMA Abuja Office, Mr Justin Uwazuruonye, said the meeting was to review its emergency preparedness, recovery and response in 2022, what happened, gaps in the response and how to improve.

In his submission, World Bank consultant, Mr Al Hassan Nuhu, said the pilot exercise would be replicated in the six geopolitical zones.

Representatives of Local Emergency Management Councils,(LEMC) from AMAC, Gwagwalada, Kwali and Abaji as well as community based Organisations participated in the survey.