Flood disaster and Nigeria’s lack of planning

One famous aphorism that has held true for so many years is that those who fail to plan necessarily plan to fail. This is often seen in how easily countries that fail to make good use of the opportunities they have to plan usually lurch from disaster to disaster with usually nothing to protect them […]

One famous aphorism that has held true for so many years is that those who fail to plan necessarily plan to fail. This is often seen in how easily countries that fail to make good use of the opportunities they have to plan usually lurch from disaster to disaster with usually nothing to protect them from all the shocks that come along.

Nigeria is a country that is both poorly planned and poor in planning. That many of the country’s problems rinse and repeat themselves every year with no permanent solution in sight speaks to not just a systemic rot but a kind of dysfunction that eludes any form of planning.

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A prime example of just how poorly Nigeria has been with its planning can be seen in the depth of the poverty with which it has managed its oil resources over the years. It is no secret that in the last few years, fluctuating oil prices have left the Nigerian economy on the brink.

Nigeria once enjoyed an oil boom, a time when global oil prices were very high. In those days, petrodollars streamed into the country. Yet, monstrous corruption oiled by the insatiable greed of a few ensured that the oil money was never put to good use. Critically, there was an unpardonable failure to properly invest the money that came from oil in infrastructure and save for the rainy day.

Today that the rainy day has now come, brought on by the crash of global oil prices, debts and other financial difficulties are threatening to suffocate the great hope of Africa.

It is not for nothing that Kogi State is dubbed the confluence state. Caught between Rivers Niger and Benue, the name of the state itself implies a water body. In any other country, this proximity to two of Africa’s premier water bodies would open up a sea of opportunity for agricultural and economic activities. However, in a country as poorly planned as Nigeria, nature’s flood of generosity in Kogi State has quickly turned out to be a curse.

Every year, when the rains come around, river banks overflow and wash through the state leaving many buildings submerged in water and families stranded and endangered.

Recently, in what has become a yearly occurrence, floods swept through Ibaji Local Government Area of the state killing three persons and displacing over 50,000 persons.

As part of her response to the humanitarian catastrophe and in a bid to ameliorate the pains of the flood victims, the wife of the governor of Kogi State, Rashida Yahaya Bello, recently donated canoes to some of the victims. Pictures of the canoes which came complete with the logo of the ruling All Progressives Congress have since flooded the internet drawing derision from many netizens. And for once, it makes absolute sense to deride.

That the state is prone to flood is no longer news. What is news is that for many years, adequate provisions have not been made to check these seasonal floods so as to curb the devastating effects they have on families.

Every year, when the floods come, it is the same picture of abject misery, helplessness and haplessness that is painted and projected for the world to see. Nigeria’s response to natural disasters still leaves much to be desired. It all weaves into a vortex of poor infrastructure which all fits into a noxious narrative of poor planning.

That more may be done; that those tasked with doing better for Nigeria may get to their jobs and remain at it instead of constantly indulging distractions that bring ridicule and irritation.

Kene Obiezu writes from Abuja