The impact of the 2022 flooding that occurred in Nigeria has left much to be desired. To forestall a recurrence, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Federal Government agency responsible for responding to disasters, has issued several warnings on areas prone to flooding this year. NCHETACHI CHUKWUAJAH writes on what the government should do beyond issuing warning signals.
Francis Ajibogun, a 35-year-old newlywed, went to bed at 12 am on the night of Sunday, October 9, 2022, with his wife and was woken up at 4 am to the noise of sparks from their inverter power generator only to discover that his house has been overtaken by flood. Everything they owned, worth millions of naira, was destroyed.
Ajibogun, a Kogi State indigene who had lived for five years around School Road, Edepie area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said he could not salvage anything from the flood as it was worse than what he had previously experienced.
“Both our phones were on the floor; our laptops were on the floor too. All our appliances were gone. The water was above my knee level by the time I got out of bed. I just started to tear up because how do I explain that in less than four hours, my entire house had been overtaken by flood?
“Between 12 am and 4 am, my room, parlour, kitchen, toilet and everywhere else were flooded. Everything that I called mine and had ever owned since I came to Bayelsa was gone!
“We managed to get ourselves out of the room. We came back with a few friends to help us raise some things that could be raised with a few stones, but it was a hopeless situation. The major things have been lost. It has been more than 10 days now and I don’t know what my room is like. From the outside, all one can see is the roof so you know that it is a write-off,” Ajibogun said.
Like Ajibogun, many Nigerians are still counting their losses from the 2022 flood disaster that, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), claimed 665 lives, caused injuries to 3,181 persons and partially or totally destroyed 3,55,986 houses in 32 states. A total of 4,476,867 persons were affected, 2,437,411 persons were displaced and about 944,989 farmlands were damaged in 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT.
Although Ajibogun and his wife resorted to staying in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp provided by the state government for the flood victims till the floods receded, life has not been the same. He said that the colossal damage the flood had on infrastructure, health, agriculture, and movement, among others, remains unquantifiable and beyond what is in the public domain.
“This is not just about the flooding; there is a health disaster looming. Snakes and other wild animals have been released into the flood. People are in danger; lives have been lost, and people’s houses, cars and shops are immersed in water. There are no hospitals; even the Medical Centre was flooded. Schools have been shut down, markets are gone, and people have died. It is terrible here. What we have in the public domain does not capture the level of damage done by the floods. It is terrible,” he said.
To forestall a recurrence of the 2022 flooding, the Federal Government, through NEMA, the government agency responsible for disaster management, has begun creating awareness and issuing early warning signals of flooding for 2023.
At the presentation of the 2023 climate-related disaster preparedness and mitigation strategies in Abuja in April, the Director-General of NEMA, Mustapha Ahmed, warned that 626 local government areas (LGAs) in Nigeria are prone to flooding. The number of LGAs to be affected is 80 per cent of Nigeria’s 774 LGAs.
NEMA, in its Annual Flood Outlook (AFO), said that 66 LGAs will experience flooding between April and June; 148 LGAs between July and September; and 100 LGAs between October and November.
The AFO further revealed that 41 LGAs fall within the moderate flood risk areas between April and June; 199 LGAs between July and September; and 72 LGAs between October and November.
The DG added that the flood forecast for 2023 shows a high risk of coastal flooding due to the expected rise in sea level and tidal surge that may negatively impact agriculture, human settlements, and transportation in Bayelsa, Delta, Lagos and Rivers States.
“Flash and urban floods are also forecast over many cities and towns due to poor drainage systems and the lack of compliance with town planning and environmental regulations.
“The forecasts have provided many insights into what to expect ahead of this rainy season. The reality is that this year may witness floods similar to what occurred last year (2022), if not more,” Ahmed said.
He added that the agency has engaged in stakeholder sensitisation activities and advocacy on recommended actions to mitigate identified hazards.
“In NEMA, we believe that early warning must be matched with early action. Therefore, we have written letters and attached this document for dispatch to all 36 state governments and the FCT administration, with specific mention of LGAs at risk and actions that are expected to be taken by responsible authorities.
“We have also produced flood risk maps of areas at risk and uploaded them on our official website and social media platforms for greater access by the public. NEMA has also commenced public sensitisation through the placement of flood early warning jingles, special discussions and advocacy across the states.
“Since the release of the forecasts, NEMA has continued to engage relevant stakeholders to explore ways to mitigate against the risk of the predicted floods and other related hazards throughout the 2023 rainy season,” the NEMA DG said.
Beyond early warning signals, what should the government do?
Despite the menace of flooding in Nigeria, signs remain strong that more will still come. Beyond these signs, Professor Emmanuel Ofoezie, a former director of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, told the Nigerian Tribune, that flood control in Nigeria requires deliberate action from the Federal Government rather than the fire brigade approach being adopted.
Prof. Ofoezie said a more proactive way of dealing with floods would be to control water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam, construct a dam to collect water from tributaries around Nigeria and the dredging of river lines.
“There are flood plains in Nigeria, and they are well-defined. One axis is the one coming from Cameroon, and the other axis is the one coming through River Niger.
“There are a number of ways to check the issue of flooding in Nigeria. Number one is to control the one coming from Cameroon. We know the Lagdo Dam causes a lot of problems for Nigeria. I have been in several meetings where we advise for resurging the underground water in the north; that is, trying to direct the water coming from Cameroon underground; Nigeria needs it a lot.
“Another one is to construct a check dam that will capture the water that is coming and then release it gradually. A lot of dams have been proposed along that line. Then there is the issue of dredging the river lines – Benue through Niger. That has not been done, and many proposals have been made. River floods occur when rivers overflow their banks. So, channelisation is one way of controlling floods.
“What we do in Nigeria is to give early warning signals that will not do anything for any person and wait for it (flooding) to occur then when there is a lot of noise, they bring relief for one or two people. Within a short while, the rainy season will be over, and that will be all for that year then we wait for another year.
“If they (warning signals) are more specific about the areas that are prone to flooding to a certain depth, people living in those areas will begin to evacuate their property before the time that was speculated comes. Nobody takes general information seriously; it has to be more specific for individuals to come in,” he said.
The role of state governments
Although the Federal Government is saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and property on a larger scale, state governments are not left out in the bid to curb flooding as they are closer to the people.
Ajibogun appealed to the Bayelsa State government, and indeed all state governments, to “invest more in drainage, bring down buildings built on waterways which are blocking the free flow of water, intensify on town planning and see that flood victims are taken to the uplands for safety.”
Ofoezie maintained that by providing proper waste management means and urban planning, state governments can play their part in keeping floods at bay.
He said, “Flooding cannot be controlled by the Federal Government alone. The Federal Government does not manage city layouts; making sure that nobody builds along flood plains, and that all rivers within the cities are properly channelled. We also have waste disposal. Rivers appear to be the major sink for our urban waste. Wastes are thrown away anyhow, and they don’t decay in a day; rather, they accumulate. And as they accumulate, they cause a lot of obstruction to water flow and that causes a lot of floods.”
There is also the need for the establishment of Local Emergency Management Committees at local government levels, as the NEMA DG said, to manage flood disasters at the local level.
More actions
The challenges of poor urban planning and the erecting of structures along flood plains seem to be other cogs in the wheel of curbing floods. In this way, some state governments, like Anambra, began the demolition of illegal structures and buildings on drainage channels and waterways. The government said its action was prompted by the impact of the 2022 flooding in the state and the warning of a recurrence by NEMA.
Ofoezie, a professor of environmental management, noted that such actions must be accompanied by adequate compensation. He said, “If somebody builds on a flood plain that is well mapped out or if the person did not seek any information before building or was warned, it will be commendable to demolish houses on flood plains.
“But if it is something that the government comes to know after the houses have been built, the government is under obligation to resettle such people before demolishing the house. Once the houses were not illegally built on the flood plain, the government must resettle such people before demolishing the house. It will be very inhuman for the government to suddenly determine that plains are affected by the flood, ask the people to move and begin demolition.”
Besides curbing flooding, there is the need to relocate flood victims and help them rise above the devastation they have suffered. Prof. Ofoezie said this should start with proactively taking people in flood-prone areas to safer places before flooding occurs.
“The Federal Government, since they know that there will be flooding, and they know the period that flooding will occur, should have IDP camps where they settle people. It should not be until houses are flooded that they tell people to come out. They ought to be more proactive. If they know that a particular area will be flooded next month, they should tell the people in the area to evacuate early enough, and they should know where to resettle those people until the floods go down,” he noted.
The climate change question
The change in the climatic condition of the earth over the last decades is attributed to such things as flooding, drought and desertification. Prof. Ofoezie opined that despite these, increasing urbanisation and industrialisation share in the blame.
He said, “Climate change has its own effects, but flooding has been there from the time the world was created. However, as urbanisation increases, we begin to approach areas where flooding occurs. Desertification is not a new thing either; it has been moving south from the Sahara Desert for a very long time, but climate change has made the rate higher than it was in the past. Climate change has also increased rainfall in some areas and caused decreased rainfall in others.
“Though climate change has its own effects, it cannot explain everything that is happening; human actions combined with climate change will explain most of what is happening.”
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