Abstract: Nigeria is a disaster prone country. The disasters which often result into environmental emergencies like flooding are worsened by the degradation of the country’s environment and natural resources. Floods, rainstorms and droughts affect households each year in Nigeria and contribute to endemic poverty in most parts. Global climate change and anticipated increases in extreme weather events will exacerbate this. Country level policies affect institutional preparedness and eventual adaptation options available during extreme weather events. One of the major challenges of dealing with climate change issues in developing countries is how to address, simultaneously, the different dimensions of vulnerability of human population that are exposed during a single disaster event. There are for instance, gender and livelihood based vulnerabilities, etc. In such cases, the mandates of existing frameworks are over stretched to address even issues outside their scope. This study attempts an overview of disasters and emergencies in Nigeria with a view to identifying their spatial and temporal dimensions. The study posits using data from government and primary sources that the nature of institutional framework available to deal with emergencies are inadequate and are poorly focused given the fragile nature of peoples livelihood and infrastructures in the country. The study concludes on the need to design local and national emergency response systems that are broad based and capable of addressing the needs of different human groups that may be vulnerable during extreme weather events. Finally, the study draws lessons for developing countries and how some of the recommendations may be replicated in third world countries.