The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday said that 45 people have died and 171,545 people have been displaced due to widespread flooding across the country in 2023.
An agency official, Dapo Akingbade, disclosed this during a monthly Water Sanitation and Hygiene meeting in Abuja’s Emergency Working Group.
Akingbade said that as of October 7, the flood had affected 13 states, with 22,666 homes partially damaged and 5,358 damaged houses, while 9,179 hectares of farmlands were partially destroyed and 8,754 hectares destroyed.
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He added that the agency had commenced a thorough assessment of the flood situation in Adamawa with the activation of the emergency operation centre to coordinate interventions.
“The flooding in Adamawa has impacted many people and communities,” Akingbade said. “At the EOC meeting, we recommended that all states activate their flood response plans.”
He said that NEMA was also awaiting a detailed needs assessment report from Adamawa to know the appropriate areas to focus its attention.
The NEMA official said that there was a need for the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector to be well-prepared, saying collective responsibility was needed to mitigate the impact of emergencies in the country.
