Nigeria: Rehabilitating vulnerable communities

Victims of landslide disaster in Agwagune Community, Cross River State are being relocated by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to a safer location where 200 units of semi-detached double housing units will be provided.

This relocation, to be carried out under the agency's pilot project of rehabilitating vulnerable communities in Nigeria, will be in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment, Cross River State and Biase Local governments, to complement short term relief intervention already delivered to the victims.

This was disclosed by the Minister of Environment, Mr John Odey,during a working visit to the agency in Abuja. Odey stated that in the Agwagune project, the collaborative institutions had been assigned various roles. NEMA would be providing the housing units; the Federal Ministry of Environment would address the issue of erosion, flood and Effa stream channelisation; Cross River State government would provide access roads, infrastructural facilities and survey of the area, while the Federal Inter Agency Committee would be responsible for monitoring and evaluation.

Minister of Environment, Mr John Odey commended NEMA for taking proactive steps on disaster and emergency issues, adding that government was impressed by some of the agency's initiatives, especially on disaster risk reduction.