Shettima launches preemptive action plan to curb flood disasters

Vice President Kashim Shettima on Wednesday launched Nigeria’s Anticipatory Action Framework, designed to shift disaster management from reactive responses to proactive preparedness by leveraging early warnings, local empowerment, and pre-arranged financing to save lives and livelihoods.

This comes as the rainy season sets in, bringing with it torrential downpours.

The Federal Government has taken proactive steps to prevent flooding through strategic measures aimed at enhancing disaster preparedness and risk management across the country.

A key component of the strategy involves establishing a dedicated trigger group comprising meteorological and emergency management agencies that will synthesise data to enable forecasts up to two weeks in advance.

Speaking during a framework validation workshop held at the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Office of the National Security Adviser in Abuja, Vice President Shettima described the framework as a timely intervention to confront the rising threats of climate-induced disasters such as floods, which affected over five million Nigerians in 2024.

“These disasters are no longer distant threats. They are here, knocking at our doors, sweeping through our streets, flooding our homes, and testing not only our moral sensitivity but the depth of our preparation,” he said.

The Vice President stressed the urgent need to abandon the costly and inadequate reactive approach to disasters in favour of a more proactive strategy.

He stated, “For decades, our response has been reactive. We wait for the waters to rise, for the homes to vanish, and then we scramble for relief. This late arrival of support costs more and saves fewer lives.

“We lose close to 5% of our GDP every year to reactive disaster responses. This approach is not only unsustainable, it is also deeply unjust to the most vulnerable among us. This is why we must act before disasters unfold.”

The Vice President explained that the new framework is built on three strategic pillars, including “early warning systems powered by satellite technology and delivered through community-based networks to provide life-saving information in real time.

“The second is pre-triggered financing. No plan can succeed without resources made available before the storm arrives. The third is localised preparedness.

“Studies have shown that anticipatory action can reduce losses by up to 60 per cent. That is not just a statistic. It is hope. It is the future of millions salvaged before ruin,” he added.

Shettima cited instances from Benue State, where trained volunteers, responding to early warning alerts, evacuated over 80,000 people within 72 hours.

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“That is what it means to build early warning systems that work. It’s not just about integrating forecasting tools, but delivering timely alerts in languages our people understand,” the Vice President stated.

He explained that the trigger group is composed of national agencies, including NiMet, NiHSA, NEMA, NASRDA, and NOA, working in collaboration with UNOCHA, WFP, FAO, and the IFRC.

“We cannot leave here with only communiqués and good intentions. We must take ownership of this framework, embed it into our institutions, and stay accountable to its promise,” the Vice President told participants at the workshop.

Earlier in his keynote address, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, said the Tinubu administration is committed to supporting the operationalisation of the Anticipatory Action Framework for Nigeria.

He stressed the need for response agencies and intervention organisations to utilise the National Social Register to lay the foundation for a flood-resistant nation, noting that the register is a national resilience infrastructure.

The Minister recommended the enactment of a risk management and data sharing protocol, the establishment of a national risk and sustainable coordination centre, early funding for anticipatory actions, and the deployment of technology to enable real-time monitoring of situations across the country.

On his part, the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, commended Nigeria for taking the bold step in leading the institutionalisation of coordinated humanitarian responses to disasters in the region.

According to him, the rest of West Africa is looking up to what is being done in Nigeria, as successes recorded in the country will permeate the rest of the region.

In his welcome remarks, the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, said the workshop is a crucial step towards building a resilient and progressive nation, emphasising that poorly managed disasters can exacerbate insecurity, enable displacement, disrupt critical infrastructure, and deepen societal fragilities.

He also noted that efforts aimed at strengthening the anticipatory capacity of the nation are a priority of the Tinubu administration, as it is essential in sustaining lives and securing national assets, among other goals.

On her part, the Special Assistant to the President on Humanitarian Affairs and Development Partners, Mrs Inna Audu, said the workshop was designed to accelerate the country’s journey towards a national early warning system that is integrated, inclusive, and anticipatory.

She noted that President Tinubu and Vice President Shettima are deeply committed to building a disaster-resilient Nigeria, stressing that the time for piecemeal responses is over and that stakeholders must shift to systems thinking—where data, people, and policies are interconnected, and where foresight guides interventions.

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