UN Releases $5m Ahead Rainy Season To Tackle Flooding In Nigeria

The UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, has approved a $5m allocation from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to support anticipatory action for expected floods in Nigeria.

This was disclosed on Thursday by the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER.

Anticipatory action mitigates predicted hazards with timely, cost-effective interventions, reducing post-crisis aid reliance and disaster costs.

Fall said “65 per cent of agricultural economic damages in the past 15 years were caused by natural disasters” adding that investing in readiness strengthens resilience, and enables communities to better adapt and protect livelihoods, safeguarding long-term development gains.

He emphasized the importance of proactive measures to mitigate the humanitarian impact of predictable disasters.

“Anticipating and acting ahead of crises such as floods saves lives. It also helps to protect people’s livelihoods, which in turn reduces their vulnerability,” Fall stated.

He noted that in a time of dwindling global funding for humanitarian responses, preemptive action is critical as it reduces both the severity of disasters and the overall cost of emergency interventions.

“The $5m CERF allocation complements government-led efforts through the anticipatory action task force,” he added.

According to the Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s (NiMET) 2025 Seasonal Climate Prediction forecast, the rainy season is expected to begin between early June and July in northern states, including Bauchi, Borno, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara.

This period coincides with the lean season when food insecurity and malnutrition intensify alongside flooding and outbreaks of diseases such as cholera.

Fall highlighted that the anticipatory action task force includes key agencies such as NiMET, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, and the National Emergency Management Agency, under the oversight of the Office of the Vice-President.

The initiative is being carried out in collaboration with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

In October 2024, CERF released $5m to scale up flood response efforts and address urgent humanitarian needs in Borno, Bauchi, and Sokoto states.

That intervention was complemented by a $6m allocation from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund (NHF), which included $2m for anticipatory action targeting large-scale floods that displaced an estimated 400,000 people in Borno State.

The UN’s latest funding aims to strengthen Nigeria’s flood preparedness and reduce the devastating humanitarian impact that recurrent flooding has had on communities across the country.

UN Releases $5m Ahead Rainy Season To Tackle Flooding In Nigeria is first published on The Whistler Newspaper