Flood: NEMA Stakeholders Evacuate Refuse On Jos Waterways

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in partnership with some stakeholders on Thursday began the evacuation of refuse on waterways in Jos.

According to Mr Eugene Nyelong, North-Central Zonal Coordinator of NEMA, the exercise becomes necessary following predictions by relevant agencies that some areas in Plateau are prone to flood.

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“Earlier in the year, the Nigeria Meteorological Services Agency (NIMET) and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) had in their Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) and Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) respectively, predicted that there would be flood in some parts of the country.

“They projected that some local government areas in the country and in our case, Barkin Ladi is among the highly probable flood risk areas.

“Pankshin; Jos North; Jos South; Jos East; Kanke; and Mangu are also among the moderately probable flood risk local government areas.

“This timely and important information has helped us to design proactive programmes such as this and will be unfolding subsequently across the three states of Benue, Plateau and Nassarawa.

“We are here in Rikkos to mitigate the impact of flood by clearing the ways to ensure free flow of water,” he said.

Nyelong stated that NEMA was collaborating with relevant agencies such as Plateau State Emergency (SEMA), Plateau Environmental Protection and Sanitation Agency (PEPSA), Nigerian Cross Society among others to achieve the goal.

The zonal coordinator stated that prior to the evacuation of refuse, the agency held community senstisation and preparedness for flood disaster/emergency in the communities identified to be flood prone.

He pointed out that there was need to develop capacity and build community resilience to help mitigate those challenges that have, unfortunately become recurrent decimal.

In his response, Mr Gabriel Bako, PEPSA Acting General Manager, who lauded NEMA for the initiative, stated that the cleaning of environment was not just the business of government but everyone.

He also commended those communities that had taken upon themselves to clean their vicinity.

“Some communities have come to us to give them equipment to clean their environment and we have gladly oblige them,” he said.

Also, the community leader of Rikkos, Alhaji Nasiru Barhaba, assured NEMA that they would continue to clean up the environment.

Barhaba also promised that they would be vigilant and ensure that members of the community do not dump refuse on waterways.