Heavy Flooding Expected In Nigeria from September 27

Fri, Sep 25, 2015

By publisher

6 MIN READ

– 

Nigerians are being warned by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency to prepare for heavy rains and flooding to avoid a repeat of the havoc a similar event wrecked in the country in 2012 when about 431 people died as a result of severe flooding

|  By Anayo Ezugwu  |  Oct 5, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT  |

THE Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, has warned Nigerians to expect a repeat of the 2012 massive flooding across the country. Anthony Anuforo, director general, NIMET, said Nigerians should brace up for heavier rains and its attendant flooding. About 30 states of the federation including Lagos would suffer heavy rains starting from September 27, NIMET said, harping on the essence of heeding to early warnings to help prevent fatalities and possibly reduce other losses that might occur.

According to Anuforo, heeding NIMET’s early warn­ing signals was a good step towards avoiding a repetition of the 2012 ugly sce­nario. He said massive flooding was bound to occur, assuring of the accuracy and timeliness of NIMET’s warnings, insisting that there were dangers inherent in ignoring them. Anuforo revealed this during the inau­guration ceremony held for the medium level technicians and observers on the field at the NI­MET Regional Training Centre, Cappa, Oshodi.

The participants, drawn from different NIMET locations across the country and housed at the training centre, were trained extensively for days on how to conform to the ever-changing dynamics in the field. The NIMET director general noted that of late, different parts of the country have been experiencing chilly weather instead of normal sunshine, delayed rainfall and sudden onset of heavy rain that caused extensive flooding as well as drought. These, he stressed were empirical observations that indicated weather pattern change and shift in time of occurrence of seasons even as he strongly attributed them to the manifestations of climate change.

“The effect of climate change is everywhere and they can mostly be noticed in the changing weather patterns we are used to over the years. The important thing for us at the agency is to predict accurately, using the latest technology we are abreast of. On the part of the citizenry, there is need to adopt an environmentally-friendly life style that would keep the environment safe,” he said.

While welcoming the participants, Anuforo disclosed that the event would make it the second time he would be in Lagos, within the year to address students undergoing training and capacity building. Earlier in the year, he was around to inaugurate the training of 120-newly enlisted numerological technicians, adding that those presently undergoing training were last trained two years ago.

According to him, there was no perfection in anything done by humans but that the agency was doing its best to have on-the-field, well- trained personal abreast with international best practice, as their work was a highly-skilled job which nobody could just dabble into. While reiterating the importance of the agency in a functional society, he stressed that NIMET’s duty was very critical as it related to safety of humans. He noted that for people working at the airport, weather forecasters and other units, if their data collation was wrong, every other thing would go wrong automatically.

Highlighting the challenges faced by NIMET, Anuforo lamented that like in other agencies, the problem of aging work force had become an issue, as many skilled personnel were leaving the workforce in droves. He disclosed that this year alone, about 72 staff would leave the service of NIMET, adding that many of the personnel were presently in their prime of service. This challenge, he explained, made it expedient to ensure that the young ones were trained to fill the vacuum create to ensure that the system did not ground to a halt or suffer.

“The strategy now is to fast-track you to take up this sensitive responsibility. By the nature of what we do, the system or technology changes fast. Some of the coding systems have been modified. So, for you to be relevant and up to the rated international standard, you have to undergo this intense refresher course.”

Anuforo also explained that the training of personnel started about four years ago, mainly to take on those who had last been trained about 25 to 35 years ago. About 207 staff, he said, had been trained so far, noting that 33 were presently undergoing training, while another 80 that would join later to bring the total figure of trainees to 250. He noted that though the agency was facing the challenging of funding, it would try as much as possible to cover the entire staff across the 50 locations across the country.

According to him, NIMET has started a commercialisation initiative to generate more revenue but the effort will not yield any fruit if data collated were not of any commercial value. He, thereafter, stressed the need for the agency to have plans that would drive the system. On plans by NIMET to upgrade the agency’s facilities across the country, the director general disclosed that extensive work had began on its Oshodi training centre, and that the efforts was aimed at repositioning the agency and to give its personnel on training the best, conducive atmosphere.

While urging the participants to disassociate themselves from acts that would impede the system and not bring the agency into disrepute, he appealed to them to always make their grievances known through constructive criticism.

The 2012 massive flooding, which virtually left Nigerians agonising had begun when many parts of the country started ex­periencing light showers. But gradually, the rains began pour­ing down in thick sheets and within 24 hours, the flood waters had swollen up, swallowing ev­erything in its path and forcing thousands of people to flee their homes. The disasters were worsen by the said release of waters from a dam in Cameroon, forcing the major rivers to receive excess water which could not flow in their normal channels. People living at the banks of major riv­ers and plains bore the brunt of the furry of the disaster following the overflow of the rivers.

More than 1.3 million Nigerians were displaced and 431 died in what the authorities said was the worst flooding in more than 40 years, with 30 of the country’s 36 states affected, according to the Na­tional Emergency Management Agency, NEMA.

The Nigerian Red Cross, NRC, said the unprecedented flood sub­merged much of Delta and Bay­elsa states, affecting some 350 communities and making 120,000 people homeless.

|