Averting another flooding

At least five persons lost their lives and several others injured, including a Catholic priest, in  Jalingo, Taraba state recently when a heavy downpour brought down many  houses  and  destroyed   farmlands.  Just  like  in Delta  and  Lagos  states,  flooding  in  Katsina  also  claimed  six lives, injured five and  destroyed over 580 houses. Last year’s flooding  […]

At least five persons lost their lives and several others injured, including a Catholic priest, in 

Jalingo, Taraba state recently when a heavy downpour brought down many  houses  and  destroyed  

farmlands.  Just  like  in

Delta  and  Lagos  states,  flooding  in  Katsina  also  claimed  six lives, injured five and 

destroyed over 580 houses. Last year’s flooding  in  Suleja,  Niger  State  where  up  to  eighteen 

 people lost their lives in a flood that ravaged four communities after a heavy downpour is still 

fresh in our memories.

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has now issued a warning about potential flood 

disasters in parts of the country, with flood prone states like Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, 

Niger, Kwara, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Lagos, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo and Bayelsa facing a looming 

threat. The Agency announced that 380 local government areas in 35 states would experience  

flooding  this  year,  which  it  said    will  be  high  in about 78 LGAs. It however said the 

situation will generally not be as severe as what the country experienced in 2012.

NIHSA’s  Acting  Director-General   Olayinka  Ogunwale  said the   government   had   been   

issuing   warnings   to   residents in flood-prone areas to relocate from such locations. The 

resultant consequences of flooding are no longer news to Nigeria; the devastation and impact is 

becoming more glaring and evident every rainy season. But despite the recurrence of this natural 

disaster, no serious action has been taken at any level of government to effectively protect the 

citizens who are ill-equipped to face the recurrent disaster.

Flood and its impacts only come to the fore when disaster occurs, then the authorities and the 

victims run helter-skelter to seek solution. Initiation of impromptu and fire brigade approach as 

remedy is often done but nothing again would be heard until another flooding season. Flood disaster 

are often attributed to “heavy rainfall” but heavy rainfall need not wash away houses, property and 

lives if the right thing was done in the first place. Lack of or shoddy city planning and sometimes 

incompetence on the part of governments is the major culprit. Indiscriminate infrastructure 

construction without adherence to urban and regional master plans is the order of the day in most 

of our cities while structures are built along floodwater channels.

In the face of global climate change, governments should recognize  flooding as a real-time  

problem. There should also be successful implementation of programmes and policies that will reduce 

the impact of all forms of activities  that threaten our environment. The Ecological Fund, which is 

ample,should effectively  used  to  mitigate  ecological  problems  and  protect the citizenry from 

floods and all environmental challenges. Instead, these funds are seen at all tiers of government 

as slush funds to be abused for political and personal ends.

We therefore must put in place measures to manage high water flows from rivers and to contain 

flooding across the country and governments have adopted measures such as flood mapping,  flood  

vulnerability  studies  and  flood  sensitisation and awareness campaigns. Though Flooding is an 

emergency, it is the National Emergency Management Agency’s (NEMA) task alone to respond to it. . 

Adequate warning is necessary before we are exposed to the forces of nature and resort to desilting 

considering the amount of mud and garbage that flood water brings.

It becomes incumbent on the authorities to, apart from annual  budget  provision,  to ensure  that  

the master  plans  of areas are strictly adhered to as a priority issue for easy solution to  

possible  environmental   problems  because  lives,  as  well as property, are at risk. The early 

warning sign by NIHSA is a pointer to what lies ahead. Therefore as pressure of urban development   

mounts   over  the  fragile  environment,   action ought to have been taken earlier to reduce the 

damage flood can do. The warning should serve as inspiration enough for our cities to rise up to 

the situation before we wake up to another round of flood disaster.