A civil society organization, Natural Justice (NJ), has expressed worry over the silence of both the federal and state governments as well as their agencies on the 2023 flood prediction by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET).
NIMET had in it’s 2023 Seasonal Climate Prediction (SCP), predicted a high possibility of flash floods in some states.
In the same vein, the Director-General of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA) in it’s 2023 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) disclosed that 178 local government areas in 32 states and the Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, will experience severe flooding in 2023.
Speaking in Port Harcourt during a training workshop on environmental human rights for journalists in the Niger Delta, NJ’s country programme manager, Mike Karikpo, wondered if the country can sustain the loss it suffered during the 2022 flood.
Karikpo said: “The Nigerian Meteorological Agency had in January this year warned about another flood that maybe as devastating as that of 2022. We all know what the country lost in the flood. Over 600 people were killed.
“But, despite the warnings of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency about the impending flood, both the federal and state governments are not saying anything.
“Also, agencies of the government such as the Federal Ministry of Environment, National Emergency Management Agency and State Emergency Management Agencies are not saying anything.
“My question is; with these silence, can Nigeria sustain the kind of loss it suffered last year of that kind of flood continues again this year?”
