#Agency Warns Of Flooding In Yobe, Sokoto And Parts Of Niger Delta

Nigeria Flood Victim

Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, has presented the 2014 flood outlook for the country.
The Minister made the presentation during the annual flood outlook organised by the Nigeria
Hydrological Services Agency in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
It was the second time the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency was issuing a flood outlook for the country, since it was established.
The Federal Government had established this agency in 2013, after twenty-seven states across the federation experienced severe flooding that killed over four hundred people and displaced about two million people in 2012.
The mandate of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency was therefore to provide advance flood warnings, in other to prevent such disaster.
The agency, on Monday, announced that Sokoto, Yobe, Benue and parts of the Niger Delta basin were high flood risk areas for 2014.
Presenting the 2014 flooding forecast, the Minister urged Nigerians to take the forecast seriously and also called for inter-agency collaboration in other to be effective in preventing, controlling, and responding to cases of flood across the country.
While some officials at this event, like the MD, Lower Benue River Basin Development Agency, Roseline Chenge, suggested the evacuation of citizens from risk prone areas, Guest Lecturer at the event, Adebayo Adeloye, advised that putting necessary infrastructure in place was key.