By Rukayat Adeyemi
Lagos, July 28, 2020 Risk Managers Society of Nigeria (RIMSON) on Tuesday urged governments at all levels in the country to take more proactive and decisive steps against perennial flooding.
The Society’s Vice-President, Mr Joseph Obah, in a statement issued in Lagos, said that the fatalities and catastrophic loss of properties recorded in the flood zones of the country was worrisome.
Obah said that the effort of the governments should go beyond the usual prediction of the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) on imminent torrential rainfall.
According to him, several residents in the flood-prone zones are not aware of the agency’s warnings until flooding occurs.
“The Executive Committee of RIMSON in its monthly virtual meeting came up with a resolution to broach the nation’s perrenial flooding problem.
“This is by offering expertise advice on appropriate and urgent measures to mitigate the debilitating impacts of flooding in the country,” he said.
Obah advised the government to do more on flood prevention and control measures such as dredging of creeks, rivers and evacuation of blocked drains, for unhindered flow of storm water into the ocean.
He said that all tiers of government should physically mark and install permanent warning signs in all high-risk perrenially flooded areas.
The society’s vice-president noted that such a measure would prompt the vulnerable occupants to plan and relocate from such areas, as well as prevent uninformed persons from inhabiting the flood zones.
According to him, these actions, if taken and implemented this year, will prevent and forestall possible fatalities and loss of properties in 2021 and beyond.
In a related development, Mr Raymond Akalonu, the President of RIMSON, said that the society would not rest on its oars, in its agenda to entrench risk management in the socio-economic fabric of the nation.
Akalonu said that the society was committed more than ever to providing appropriate and necessary risk management education in the country.
He said that RIMSON, under the watch of the current Governing Board, had strenghtened its risk advocacy machinery, geared to conquering new frontiers for its subsidiary, the Centre for Risk Management Development (CRMD).
According to the society’s president, the CRMD as a subsidiary, will be the hub of risk management education in the West African Sub-region.
Akalonu said that the society would clock 35 in August, and would only celebrate its developments in the global risk management space.
He acknowledged the global exploits of risk managers in tackling the COVID-19 and mitigating its impacts.
Akalonu lauded the Nigerian Insurance industry for assisting the Federal Government in providing insurance covers for the frontline health workers.