From 17 to 21 April 2023, experts from across the Member States met in Lomé, Togo to discuss and validate data and humanitarian needs assessment report on the region’s 2022 Flood Disaster and Associated Food and Nutrition Crisis. The first part of the meeting which starts from 17 to 19 April 2023 will focus on the impact of the flood disaster of 2022 and ECOWAS’s post-flood strategy to accompany Member States to assist the affected population. The second meeting which runs from 20 to 21 April 2023 focuses on the impact of the food and nutrition crisis on populations in Member States especially children and the vulnerable population and ECOWAS efforts to assist Member States mitigate the impact of the dire situation.

In his welcome remarks, the Minister of Security and Civil Protection, Republic of Togo, General Yark Damehane, said the region experienced devastating rains which plunged vulnerable families into a deep crisis with considerable damage to human lives, property, agricultural land, and livestock, thus causing displacement of populations. General Damehane added that in Togo, the assessment of the results of the torrential rains revealed 5 deaths, 17 injuries, and 24,889 victims, i.e. 6,717 households and more than 2,098 hectares of devastated crops. He said that good emergency response preparedness requires a lot of financial and material investment hence the need for the ECOWAS Commission to pay more attention to their many requests in the quest for the well-being of our people.

The Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs, ECOWAS Commission, Mrs Sintiki Tarfa Ugbe, in her remarks, said the Commission is well aware of the challenges that Member States face in the issue of flooding and the associated food crises. Director Ugbe noted the efforts being made by them to develop solutions to these various environmental and humanitarian challenges that flooding brings and assured them of the commitment of the ECOWAS Commission to addressing these challenges. She added that the workshop will serve as a platform to find lasting solutions to these challenges towards achieving successful and sustainable management of floods in the region.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).