By Franca Ofili
The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) has said its Flood Response, Recovery and Resilience Project is currently supporting about 200,000 households displaced by the 2024 floods across 12 states.
The Director of Disaster Management at NRCS, Dr Benson Agbro, represented by Ms. Blessing John, said this in Abuja on Monday at the unveiling of a scorecard on the Flood Response, Recovery and Climate Resilience programme.
Agbro said the intervention covered Anambra, Borno, Cross River, Enugu, Bayelsa, Gombe, Nasarawa, Niger, Lagos, Ogun, Edo and Sokoto states, focusing on emergency response, recovery and long-term resilience building.
He explained that the project was designed from 2024 flood incident reports which highlighted widespread displacement and weak community coping capacity.
According to him, about 600 community-based volunteers have been deployed across the 12 states to sustain impact, while community resilience committees now coordinate local action and evacuation efforts.
Also speaking, Programme Coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Gloria Konyenga, said the programme was funded by the Italian government in partnership with NRCS and had recorded strong results.
She said the project aimed to help households and communities respond more effectively to floods while building systems that enabled faster recovery from future disasters.
Konyenga said a key component of the intervention was forecast-based early action, which trained communities to respond to flood warnings before disasters occured.
She added that warehouses and prepositioned relief centres had been established to ensure immediate response capacity during emergencies.
According to her, an Emergency Operations Centre and a digital warehouse management system have also been activated to improve coordination and stock tracking.
Konyenga said flood safety protocols had been introduced in 77 schools across the 12 states, while residents received training in disaster risk reduction, first aid and search-and-rescue operations.
She added that damaged public facilities, including schools, town halls and solar-powered water points, had been rehabilitated to restore essential services.
A resident of Manga community in Wamba LGA, Nasarawa State, Mr Sule Manga, said the intervention had improved flood preparedness and reduced isolation risks in the area.
He said early warning systems, local volunteer coordination and evacuation drills had helped residents respond better to seasonal flooding.
Manga added that boreholes were repaired in the community, marking the first major external intervention in spite of repeated flood incidents over the years.
He, however, said that difficult terrain and poor road access remained major challenges in reaching remote communities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that NRCS and IFRC are holding a lessons-learned workshop to document insights from the programme for future disaster resilience and emergency response planning.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by Abiemwense Moru
