Environment

Flooding Kills 662, Displaces 2.4m Nigerians In 2022

Flood in 2022 has led to death of 662 people and displaced 2,430,445 others in different parts of Nigeria, Director General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, has said.

Ahmed revealed that another 3,174 people were wounded during the flood disaster.

Ahmed made these revelations on Monday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a one-week strategic executive seminar for staff of the agency and wider Nigerian emergency management by the Bournemouth University Disaster Management Centre (BUDMC).

He said thousands of houses, hectares of farmlands and several critical national assets were also destroyed by the raging floods, noting that the agency, alongside the state governments and other partners, was working towards the long-term recovery of impacted communities across the nation.

According to the DG, the agency brought in United Kingdom and overseas experts to support governments and multi-national organisations with disaster and crisis preparedness, response and recovery for the seminar.

Ahmed predicted flooding this year but was not certain how severe it would be.

“After this training and the release of the Seasonal Climate Prediction by NiMet and the flood outlook by NIHSA and we do the risk mapping, we will write to the governors. We will identify areas and show them the areas that will be affected,” he said.

Ahmed called for synergy with state governments to effectively tackle flooding and its effect.

“I believe all the 36 states must take this course; they should replicate it to the local emergency management committee that they will set up.

“We have to prepare in time. We are planning early so that we get ready early,” he added.

The Director, Human Resource Management (NEMA), Mr Musa Zakari, said fast climatic changes led to increase in frequent natural disasters in the nation.

He said the agency might need to re-examine some fundamentally new and profoundly more efficient approaches to disaster management.

An expert from BUDMC, Mr Richard Gordon, said there must be a Nigerian way of solving Nigerian disaster issues.

He said participants would be trained on various ways to manage disasters better.

Environment

Tornado Tears Through US State Of Mississippi, Kills 23

At least 23 people have died after a tornado tore through the US state of Mississippi on Friday night.

Dozens of residents have been injured while four persons are said to be missing.

The numbers are expected to rise as search efforts are underway to rescue people thought to be trapped under knocked-off buildings, according to the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MSEMA).

The tornado caused devastation in several rural towns, yanking roofs off homes, nearly levelling some neighbourhoods and causing power outages.

Videos shared on social media showed piles of rubble, wrecked cars and search teams sifting through debris for survivors.

Environment

UNICEF Says 78m Children Risk Water Crisis In Nigeria

The United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, says 78 million children in Nigeria are at the risk of three water-related threats.

UNICEF listed the threats to include inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene, WASH; related diseases; and climate hazards.

This is contained in statement signed by UNICEF Nigeria Chief of WASH, Dr Jane Bevan, on Monday.

According to the statement, one-third of children do not have access to at least basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services.

“Hand hygiene is also limited, with three-quarters of children unable to wash their hands due to lack of water and soap at home.

“As a result, Nigeria is one of the 10 countries that carry the heaviest burden of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate WASH, such as diarrhoeal diseases, “Bevan said.

She called for an investment in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene services.

According to her, such move is not only a matter of protecting children’s health today, but also ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.

“I believe we need to rapidly scale-up investment in the sector, including from global climate financing, strengthen climate resilience in the WASH sector and communities.

“Also, increase effective and accountable systems, coordination, and capacities to provide water and sanitation services, and implement the UN-Water SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework,“ she said.

Environment

Poultry Farmers Lose Over N30bn eggs To Naira Scarcity, Says Association

The Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria, AFAN has lamented that its members lost more than N30 billion worth of over 15 million crates of eggs due to the effect of Naira scarcity in the country.

The National President of AFAN, Sunday Onallo-Akpa made this known on Friday in a statement issued to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja.

“The poultry farmers in the country have lost over 15 million crates of eggs being unsold and are damaged, The average loss to the poultry industry as at this press release is in excess of over N30 billion,” he said.

Mr Onallo-Akpa described the poultry industry in Nigeria as one of the most consolidated subsectors of the Nigeria agriculture contributing about 25 per cent of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product, AGDP, and employing over 25 million Nigerians direct and indirect.

He said the poultry industry has been a major employer of labour and a great source of financial empowerment and livelihood for many families, especially women and youths.

“The industry is completely private sector driven worth over N3 trillion,” he said, adding that it has been able to contribute to the local domestication of investments in the country.

Mr Onallo-Akpa however alerted that the poultry industry is on the verge of total collapse and extermination because of the negative and devastating consequences of the new currency policy on the industry.

“The near absence of Naira notes for Nigerians to make daily transactions have made businesses in the poultry industry more difficult.

“Eggs being daily produced by poultry farmers since the first week of February 2023 till date have never been offtaken by 20% because of the near absence and lack of the NAIRA notes to buy basic food items and other necessary proteins like eggs and chickens,” said the AFAN leader.

He therefore called for urgent intervention by the Federal Government to save the industry from eminent collapse.

Mr Onallo-Akpa also appealed to the federal government to mop up the eggs through the association for distribution to the most vulnerable old populations as part of the Social Investment Support to Nigerians.

“Encourage the Armed Forces in various peace keeping operations, the Nigerian Prisons, the Internally Displaced Persons and primary schools (School Feeding Programme) to be immediate offtakers of the eggs,” he urged.

He also appeal to the Presidency to direct the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, the Directorate of Peace Keeping Operations of the Nigeria Armed Forces, the Social Investment Programme of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to work with the association on how immediate reliefs can be extended to poultry farmers across the country to prevent the collapse of the poultry Industry.

The AFAN president also appealed to the government to make available direct grants and financial support to the industry through the association in special packages to be worked out by the government and the association.

(NAN)