Flooding in Nigeria, a danger foretold

 

It is heartrending and most unfortunate that many states in Nigeria are at present ravaged by floods. Recently, the Director General, National Emergency Management Agency, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, said the agency had identified 233 local government areas in 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory that would experience flooding in 2022. He spoke at a national consultative workshop on 2022 Flood Preparedness, Mitigation and Response organised by the agency in Abuja. This followed the 2022 Seasonal Climate Prediction released by Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the Annual Flood Outlook released by Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency.

In early September, NEMA DG revealed that flash floods across Nigeria had affected about 508,000 people, killing about 372, injuring 277 and destroying 37,633 houses aside from farmlands and livestock lost, within the last eight months. Given what has happened in the last two weeks, the casualty figures and number of internally displaced persons have risen exponentially. For instance, this newspaper in its last Sunday edition reported that there was tragedy in Anambra State when about 76 persons lost their lives when a boat carrying 85 passengers from Onukwu to Nkwo Ogbakuba capsized on the morning of Friday, October 7, 2022. Three other persons were also said to have gone missing in Enugu State as a result of flooding in some parts of the state.

Right now, Lokoja, the confluence town where Niger and Benue rivers met has largely been submerged by water, especially the riverside communities. The River Niger Bridge in Lokoja has been over-flown by rising sea level, rendering vehicular passage impossible. Motorists have had to make a detour passing through longer routes to get to their destinations. Many roads have been washed away, many farmlands, houses, vehicles and other properties have succumbed to the overpowering effect of flooding.

Collateral impact of this flooding is that heavy-duty trucks carrying petroleum products and food items are stuck on the road. Some bridges have collapsed while safe passage of flooded roads cannot be guaranteed. Because of this development, there is now scarcity of petroleum products in Northern Nigeria while prices of foodstuffs have also hit the roof due to transportation challenges.

Apart from economic losses, flooded communities face health hazards. Because the water has been contaminated, those living in the affected areas are at risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, malaria, and many more. Those who have suffered heavy losses are prone to depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, panic attacks, high blood pressure, stroke and heart attacks.

Now that many farmlands have been washed away or submerged in water, the economic loss is gargantuan. There are those who borrowed money from financial institutions or cooperative societies to farm, now, their investments have gone down the drain. Most affected are those who borrowed under the Anchor Borrowers Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria. There’s no way affected farmers will be able to pay back their debts. Of greater concern is the food insecurity that the flooding will cause.  Insecurity as a result of nefarious activities of bandits have, prior to now, impacted negatively on farming activities. The flash floods across the many areas regarded as the “food baskets of the nation” have worsened the situation. This then means that food prices will soar while smuggling of foodstuffs from Nigeria’s neighbouring countries will increase geometrically. Government may have no choice but to grant import license to those who want to bring in food items from abroad.

The questions being asked are: Why were the flood alerts by relevant government agencies not heeded? Is this flooding actually a natural disaster or manmade? How do we prevent reoccurrence of this perennial challenge? Truly, with the help of science and technology it is possible to forecast the weather and take pre-emptive and preventive actions. Unfortunately, it does not seem as if people heeded the early warning signs of the excessive rainfall predicted for the year. Like the time of Noah in the Bible when God commanded him to build an Ark to save the people from the predicted flood that wiped away the “first world”, Nigerians in the riverine communities likewise showed lackadaisical attitude to NiMET and NHSA flood alerts. I learnt some people insisted on not leaving their ancestral homes. Now, they have prematurely gone to meet their ancestors in heaven.

Obviously, government and its agencies have not done enough to sensitise people against the dangers of their recalcitrance. There’s nothing wrong if government had forcefully evacuated the people in the river basin communities to safe shelters and destroyed the shanties and houses built on flood plains. There should have also been stricter enforcement of environmental sanitation regulations with people emptying their refuse cans in drainages being arrested and heavily punished. There are dams government should have built and rivers that should have been dredged but which government had not made priorities. There is need for government and the people to have behavioural change.

Whether we believe it or not, climate change is real. Ozone layer depletion, global warming and the concomitant rise in water levels are largely responsible for flash floods and mudslides being witnessed across the globe. We however can do something to mitigate the effect of this ugly phenomenon by ensuring that we take good care of our environment. Luckily, we have federal and states ministries of environment, federal and state emergency management agencies and other bodies that can help us contain the deleterious effects of climate change on our environment. Unfortunately, these ministries, departments and agencies are not often well-resourced. They have a shortage of manpower, technical know-how and funding to make them perform well.

My condolence to the families of those who have lost loved ones to this 2022 flooding. However, for the living, who are internally displaced, let all public-spirited individuals help those in internally displaced persons camps. We should not leave them to their plight but support government’s modest efforts by bringing succour to the victims of this year’s devastating floods.