The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Benue State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) have begun a three-day simulation exercise to test the state’s preparedness for flood disasters and identify gaps in its emergency response.
The exercise, code-named “Uwar Uma,” meaning “Saving Lives” in Tiv, is testing how quickly authorities and communities can turn flood early warnings into evacuation and emergency response actions.
The Acting Zonal Director, North Central, NEMA, Sulieman Mohammed, disclosed this on Tuesday at the training and orientation programme in Makurdi.
Mohammed said the simulation would test early warning, evacuation, search and rescue, emergency communication and coordination among agencies during a flood emergency.
He said Benue’s river systems, floodplains, seasonal rainfall and settlements around the River Benue and its tributaries made preparedness necessary.
According to him, the exercise would assess the ability of communities, Local Emergency Management Committees and state and federal agencies to activate response mechanisms as emergencies escalate.
He said the exercise was intended to expose weaknesses that could hamper response during an actual disaster.
“The purpose of the simulation is not to demonstrate perfection but to identify gaps in plans, communication systems, logistics, evacuation arrangements and inter-agency coordination,” he said.
The Special Adviser to Governor Hyacinth Alia on Disaster Management, Mimi Iyonov, who represented the governor, said flooding was one of the state’s major disaster risks and required continuous preparedness.
She said the exercise would test the state’s early-warning, evacuation, search-and-rescue, humanitarian response and recovery mechanisms.
Iyonov said disaster management required the participation of government agencies, security organisations, humanitarian partners, traditional and community leaders, as well as affected communities.
The National Project Management and Coordination Specialist for Nigeria, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Dr Sunday Amama, said the exercise was supported by the World Bank and UNDP under the UNDP Sahel Resilience Project for Nigeria.
Amama said the exercise would test institutional coordination and emergency response mechanisms while generating lessons for actual flood emergencies.
Earlier, the Head of Administration, Benue-SEMA, Atii Samuel, who represented the Executive Secretary, James Iorpuu, said the workshop was aimed at strengthening preparedness and testing existing response mechanisms.
The exercise, which runs from September 15 to 17, brings together government ministries, departments and agencies, security and emergency response agencies, humanitarian organisations, Local Emergency Management Committees and other participants.
