By Ogechi OHAEGBULAM

Over 500,000 Nigerians were displaced by the several floods that ravaged 10 states of the federation last year, the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA , has said.

The Director-General of NEMA, Muhammad Sani-Sidi ,disclosed this yesterday at the ongoing Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction holding in Geneva, Switzerland.

In a presentation to the conference, Sani-Sidi said NEMA had sent early warning signals to the flood prone states in order to avoid the calamity that befell the affected communities last year.

A statement by NEMA’s Head of Media and Publicity, Yushau Shuaib, quoted the NEMA director-general as naming the affected states to include Sokoto, Jigawa, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Lagos, Ogun, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Niger and Kwara States.

“This year, the agency has already sent early warning signals to some of the states to ensure that they sensitize their people on the potential risk and how to avoid the repeat of the past disasters due to the flood,” he said.

Urging states to harness the potentials of huge water as resources for agriculture and preservation for future usage, Mohammed Sani-Sidi advised them to be adequately prepared for flooding to avoid another catastrophe which, last year, uprooted corpses from their graves, contaminated water and destroyed large farmlands and killed animals.