The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says the 2022 floods impacted 16,000 families, while 6,000 farmers lost various seedlings and farm produce in Lagos State.

The Lagos coordinator, Lagos Territorial Office, NEMA, Ibrahim Farinloye, said this in a statement on Friday in Lagos.

The statement was issued against the backdrop of the NEMA/World Bank initiative on strengthening resilience and lessons learned from the 2022 flood disaster.

Mr Farinloye quoted the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, as saying that various sectors of the economy were affected by floods in Lagos State in 2022.

Mr Ahmed said about 16,000 families were impacted and about 6,000 farmers lost various seedings and farm produce due to many floods in 2022.

He said various sectors of the economy were impacted by the 2022 floods with their data specific to Lagos State, gaps analyses with suggestions that different actors were expected to be more active.

Mr Ahmed also emphasised the need to reappraise all efforts carried out on every incident, identify gaps, and bridge the gaps for effective and efficient response.

He said due to the events in 2022, the agency directed the Lagos Territorial Office and other NEMA field offices to ensure that losses were mitigated and the resilience of Nigerians strengthened in the 2023 rainy season.

This, he said, was the reason for the drastic reduction in losses in 2023, though with a doubled amount of rainfalls compared with the 2022 season.

Mr Ahmed expressed gratitude to the participants in attendance and promised to assist in the capacity building of other stakeholders.

He said the request by other stakeholders for retraining of water rescue and safety, which NEMA had planned for the lead agencies and at the federal and state levels, was still in process.

NEMA expressed gratitude for the synergy and partnership it has been enjoying with partners, either individually or collectively.

Mr Farinloye said the permanent secretary of Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, expressed gratitude to NEMA and the World Bank for selecting Lagos State to represent the South-West geo-political zone as a reference point.

Mr Osanyintolu encouraged the World Bank to facilitate capacity building for his staff.

Mr Farinloye said the World Bank team lead, Joseph- kem, narrated the efforts of NEMA in achieving the approval of the World Bank in conducting the exercise.

(NAN)