Flood: Expert tasks Nigerians on risk reduction strategies

Nigerians have been advised to focus more on risk reduction strategies than taking post-disaster measures following the recent prediction of looming flood in some states of the federation.
A researcher at the Nigeria Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER), Ibadan, Dr. Luqman Ademola Adeagbo, gave the advice while presenting a paper tagged ‘Socio-Economic Analysis of Natural Disaster in Nigeria’.
Dr. Adeagbo  enjoined government at all levels in the country to enhance institutional capacity of agencies responsible for prevention, control and management of risks of disasters.  “There is need to improve institutional capacity, adaptive capacity and coping strategies as recommended,”he said.
While noting that government agencies had been warning dwellers along river banks and residents of Yobe, Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Cross River and Kwara states of impending flood, he called for the creation of more opportunities for involvement of other stakeholders including NGOs, donors, development partners and MDAs in the control and management of disasters and their risks.
He, however noted that as at now, policy response had been mostly reactive while institutional capacity was weak due to various challenges such as lack of relevant documents, intervention programmes and strategies.