From Our Correspondent
Abuja, April 16, ’25 (TNZ) The Federal Government has taken proactive steps to prevent flooding through strategic measures to enhance disaster preparedness and risk management across the country.
TheNewsZenith reports that Vice President Kashim Shettima, announced this at the inauguration of Nigeria’s Anticipatory Action Framework, on Wednesday in Abuja.
FG designed the framework to shift disaster management from reactive responses to proactive preparedness.
The VP described the framework as a timely intervention to confront the rising threats of climate-induced disasters.
Such disaster like floods affected over five million Nigerians in 2024.
“These disasters are no longer distant threats. They are here, knocking at our doors, sweeping through our streets, flooding our homes.
“They are testing, not only our moral sensitivity, but the depth of our preparation,” TheNewsZenith quotes VP as saying.
Shettima emphasised the urgent need to shift from the costly and inadequate reactive approach to disasters for a more proactive measure.
“For decades, our response has been reactive. We wait for the waters to rise, for the homes to vanish. And then, we scramble for relief.
“This late arrival of support costs more and saves fewer lives.
“We lose close to five per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year to reactive disaster response.
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“This approach is not only unsustainable, it is also deeply unjust to the most vulnerable among us. This is why we must act before disasters unfold.”
Also speaking at the inauguration, the National Security Adviser, Malam Nuhu Ribadu, said the event was a crucial step towards building a resilient and progressive nation.
Ribadu noted that poorly managed disasters could exacerbate insecurity, enable displacement, disrupt critical infrastructure and deepen societal fragilities.
The NSA said that efforts aimed at strengthening the anticipatory capacity of the nation are a priority of the Tinubu administration.
According to him, it is essential in sustaining lives and securing national assets, among other goals.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, reiterated President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s committed to supporting the operationalisation of the Anticipatory Action Framework for Nigeria.
Yilwatda stressed the need for response agencies and intervention organisations to use the National Social Register to lay the foundation for a flood-resistant nation.
The minister said the register was a national resilience infrastructure. He recommended the enactment of a risk management and data sharing protocol.
He also empahaised the need for the establishment of a national risk and sustainable coordination centre.
Yilwatda further recommended early funding for anticipatory actions and the deployment of technology to enable real-time monitoring of situations across the country. (TNZ)
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