NEMA Prepares For Flood In Calabar, Visits Communities
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has launched its 2025 National Preparedness and Response Campaign (NPRC) in Calabar, Cross River State, aimed at fortifying response to seasonal flooding and other emergencies.
This was made known via the agency’s official X (formerly Twitter) page on Monday.
The campaign seeks to deepen public awareness, strengthen grassroots resilience, and build more robust disaster response systems across the country, especially in high-risk flood zones.
The flag-off began with a courtesy visit to the Cross River State Government, where the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Anthony, pledged the administration’s full support to NEMA and the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) in mitigating disaster risks.
At a high-level stakeholder engagement hosted at the Metropolitan Hotel, NEMA’s Director General, Mrs. Zubaida Umar, represented by Mr. Joseph Ugwu, stressed the need for consistent public sensitisation and effective dissemination of early warning signals as vital tools in disaster risk reduction.
“The success of disaster preparedness lies in grassroots engagement. Communities must be equipped with the knowledge and tools to act before disaster strikes,” Ugwu stated.
The key presentations included a detailed analysis of the 2025 Seasonal Climate Prediction and Annual Flood Outlook delivered by Mr. Igue Terungwa of the African Centre for Disaster Risk Reduction and Operations (ACDRRO).
Terungwa urged the urgent creation of functional Local Emergency Management Committees (LEMCs) in every local government area to ensure swift and coordinated responses at the community level.
The event had participants from critical response and support agencies, including the Nigeria Police, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Nigerian Immigration Services, Nigerian Red Cross, Federal Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps, Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, Waste Management Authority, traditional leaders, and the media.
The campaign continued at the Bakassi Community, one of the state’s most flood-vulnerable zones. Residents there received hands-on training on flood prevention techniques and were part of a practical emergency simulation exercise led by the Fire Service.
The Nigerian Red Cross also conducted basic first aid training, concluding with the donation of a first aid box to support local response capacity.
NEMA Prepares For Flood In Calabar, Visits Communities is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
