The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has raised an urgent alarm, demanding swift action from all tiers of government and people living in flood-prone zones as Nigeria braces for the 2025 floods.
This push comes on the heels of “alarming forecasts from the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), which has identified 1,249 communities across 176 local government areas in 30 states including 16 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as vulnerable to significant flooding this year.”
In a no-holds-barred statement, ACF’s National Publicity Secretary, Professor Tukur Muhammad-Baba, expressed serious worry over the scale of damage the floods could unleash.
“Communities without adequate preparations typically experience deaths, destruction of farmlands, property damage, disruptions to livelihoods, and food shortages. For 2025, the floods could not come at a worse time, given the dire economic and other existential constraints that citizens have been living with,” the group noted.
Although the Federal Government has reportedly launched sensitisation campaigns, the ACF pointed out that these efforts have barely reached many of the threatened areas, even as the rains have already started falling in some states.
The group is demanding stronger synergy across all government levels to push emergency awareness drives and boost readiness.
It wants relief agencies to be proactive “pre-position essential supplies such as food, clean water, medicines, and emergency kits in vulnerable areas.”
READ ALSO: Nigeria on Flood Alert: 30 States, FCT Face Severe Risk as 2025 Rains Loom
Beyond relief, the ACF is urging a race against time to fix crucial infrastructure “roads, bridges, schools, hospitals, and markets before floodwaters arrive.”
It didn’t stop there. The forum stressed the importance of following urban planning and environmental laws to prevent avoidable chaos.
“Incompetence, misconduct, dereliction of duty, quackery, and corruption must not go unpunished,” it declared.
Citizens were also urged to take responsibility, clean their drains, stop littering, and stay alert.
The ACF ended its message with a firm commitment to back all efforts focused on saving lives and securing property as the nation prepares for what may be a very difficult rainy season.