Is Nigeria’s brain box lost in the flood?

State governors belong here. There are cabinet ministers and lawmakers, all of whom are saying flooding is a headache in their constituencies, expressing plenty of emotion in the process. If care is not taken, comments of how monumental a disaster this is, is all that Nigerians will hear, and everyone goes to sleep, when the […]

State governors belong here. There are cabinet ministers and lawmakers, all of whom are saying flooding is a headache in their constituencies, expressing plenty of emotion in the process. If care is not taken, comments of how monumental a disaster this is, is all that Nigerians will hear, and everyone goes to sleep, when the rains go away. The manner in which the current situation is being handled gives reasons to be so concerned.

First, from the presidency. When the worst of the flooding happened, and something was done at the presidential level, it was to send cabinet ministers out, headed by the Environment Minister. They were to assess what had happened across the country. That was the mandate. They fulfilled it, and in whichever state governor’s office they found themselves, they made political statements of how concerned the president was.

Summary: These politicians returned and reported to the president what they saw from what should essentially be political perspectives, not technical, not with the technical know-how that only those so-trained could have, and thus make the most out of what must have been expensive trips from the perspective of the nation’s treasury.

Now, the president has taken his decision and addressed the nation based on what he heard. There are fears, and this is where they are: Sending out political representatives, without making those with technical capacity and understanding of the matter at hand the core of the mission, is a fault line. The entire exercise may turn out to follow the usual pattern of putting up grand fronts, taking high-sounding steps that yield nothing effective or sustainable in the end.

Of course, ministers talk funds, they talk big-time money, and so they did with the state governors in attendance at a meeting the president had before he made his latest broadcast to the nation. But these were the same class of people who had managed funds released to deal with environmental issues in the past. State governors had been collecting ecological funds for years, and now they were the ones that sat to discuss it with the president when ecological disaster happened.

It is good that governors sit and discuss a matter with the president. But to what extent had technical input been made into that discussion and the decisions reached before the president went on air to address the nation on the same matter?

Incidentally, only one state governor, Adams Oshiomole of Edo State, has been categorical in asking that ecological funds released to state governments, or kept in reserve for state governments be released for the purpose it is meant. He is also the only state governor known to have taken a paddle and moved himself in flooded areas of his state like the victims, while others flew in helicopters.

Means of moving around for some is not so exotic, but no less amazing.

Has anyone seen the list of the National Committee of Flood Relief and Rehabilitation that the president set up? Chief Executives of high-sounding organizations, local and foreign, who would not have time to attend meetings and move and shake things are in it.

Consistently, reactions to occurrences here appear like series of missteps. It cannot but be because nothing is ever handled as it should. Till this moment, no government official is giving statistics, none is taking any from the different perspectives that involves, as important as it is, but fund is on its way out of the treasury. Sometimes, what flows from those who should be the nation’s brain box, men and women at the highest level, from an observer’s standpoint, casts them as incapable of thinking strategically, thinking with the whole picture in view, the end in mind, and with the nation as a reason for a course of action rather than some unstated short term emotional or political motives.

At the moment, most politicians who make recommendations on the way out of perennial flooding talk about their areas, and some mention the need to dredge rivers filled with silt in their areas. There’s no talk of linking any remedies to include reforesting vast deforested areas across the country where silt originates. The military that helps in disaster situations in some other climes has not been called in for assistance in this age when most military formations take pride in being prepared for duties other than war.

No health official is talking about the health implications of flood that brought contaminated waters to residential areas, and none has been mobilized for assessment. When scenario such as this repeats itself in major national issues, it raises questions, making one wonder if the nation really has any brain box, where it is if it has, and the quality of those in it. It’s time the president adds depth to the quality of those that offer him counsel.

Tunji  Ajibade is a Communications Consultant in Abuja.   ([email protected])