The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has deployed a specialized technical team and delivered emergency relief materials to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to bolster ongoing response efforts following severe flooding across parts of the state capital.
​The delegation, led by NEMA’s Director of Search and Rescue, Air Commodore Bature Usman, arrived at the Rivers State Government House in Port Harcourt on Friday, October 2, 2026. The team met with key state officials to coordinate search, rescue, and relief operations across affected communities.
​Speaking on behalf of NEMA Director-General Zubaida Umar, Air Commodore Usman expressed deep sympathy to the government and victims affected by the torrential downpours.
​”The Director-General directed the immediate deployment of this technical team to provide critical coordination, search-and-rescue assistance, and technical support to complement the efforts of the Rivers State Government and local emergency responders,” Usman stated during the presentation.
​Following the delegation’s official meeting at the Government House, the team relocated to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) central warehouse in the Trans-Amadi industrial area of Port Harcourt at 1:30 PM to oversee the official inspection and handover of relief supplies.
​The Head of Service for Rivers State, Dr. Inyingi Brown, received the emergency items on behalf of the state government. Expressing gratitude to the federal agency, Dr. Brown assured that the items would be distributed swiftly and transparently.
​”We appreciate the prompt intervention of NEMA and the federal government,” Dr. Brown said during the handover ceremony. “The state government is committed to ensuring these materials are judiciously distributed directly to the affected persons in the hardest-hit communities.”
​NEMA’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Manzo Ezekiel, noted that the Port Harcourt deployment is part of a nationwide contingency initiative directed by the Director-General to manage rising flood levels across vulnerable coastal and inland states.
Technical personnel will remain on the ground in Rivers State over the coming weeks to conduct comprehensive flood assessment mapping and support community-level evacuation strategies.
