38 died in floods, 160 displaced in 2013 – NEMA

Director General of NEMA Muhammad Sani Sidi stated this at a workshop on the application of the seasonal rainfall prediction to climate sensitive sectors organized by NIMET at the weekend in Abuja.
Represented by the Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting Alhasan Nuhu, the NEMA boss said in 2013 flood, the agency recorded a decrease in the number of persons affected to less than one million. He said when compared to the devastating 2012 flood, there was a significant reduction in the number of those affected.
He attributed the success recorded to sensitization campaign embarked upon by the agency based on Seasonal Rainfall Prediction and Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) 2013 annual flood outlook. The NEMA boss also identified some challenges of the rainfall prediction as lack of outreach to key stakeholders at the most basic levels, poor communication of forecasts, lack of trust in forecast and low capacity to act on the forecasts.