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From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Minister of Humanitarian Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has disclosed that Nigeria lost US$6.68bn to flooding and other disaster.
Umar Farouq, who stated this after releasing the Post Disaster Assessment report on the 2022 Flooding, yesterday in Abuja, noted that disaster took a toll on the economy.
She said: “According to the Key findings of the GRADE report, all the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory were affected by the 2022 flood in Nigeria with varying degrees of damages and people affected.
“This analysis estimates that the total direct economic damages, based on currently reported statistics as of November 25th are in the range of US$3.79 billion to US$9.12 billion with the best (median) estimate at US$6.68 billion.
“This includes damages to residential and non-residential buildings (including building contents), as well as damages to infrastructure, productive sectors and to cropland.”
According to her, the objective of the Global Rapid Damage Estimation Note, developed by the World Bank’s Disaster-Resilience Analytics and Solutions team, was to assess the economic impact of the June-November 2022 floods in the country.
She said that the GRADE assessment gives an overview of the nature of the flood disaster and its impact across Nigeria as well as sectoral and State-by-State effects critical for planning.
“The GRADE Note is a fast first-order approximation of the economic impact, and provides a rapid high-level estimate of damages used to inform ongoing decisions in a timely fashion.
“It was developed using the empirical data defined in this document, calibrated against historical data and experience, including the 2012 Nigeria Floods PDNA (Post-disaster Needs Assessment). The period of analysis is from June 2022 to 25th November 2022.”
Earlier, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Nasir Sani -Gwarzo, stated that the Ministry and NEMA jointly sought a preliminary and quantitative spatial damage assessment which was considered to be faster than a traditional Post Disaster Needs Assessment and fairly accurate with the technical support from the World Bank Group.
“The GRADE approach was with the collaboration of many stakeholders including NIMET, NARDA, NIHSA, NSCDC and the GRADE assessment was conducted between Nov 14-28, 2022 after the flood water had receded in most parts in the country from June to November 2022.
“The World Bank delivered the Grade Report on time in November 2022 and the Ministry through NEMA has started implementing some of the findings of the report,” he said.
