Time to guard against flood – The Sun

The warning by the Ni­gerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency’s (NIHSA) that some states will experience seri­ous flooding on account of heavy rainfall should be taken serious­ly.

The Director-General of NI­MET, Dr. Anthony Anuforom, explained in Abuja that the warn­ing became necessary to alert Ni­gerians on the need to take pre­ventive measures to avert it.

The states that may experience the flooding, according to the Director-General of NIHSA, Dr. Moses Beckley, are Niger, Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Anambra and Taraba. Others are Kebbi, Ad­amawa, Kogi, Benue, Nasarawa and Sokoto.

The agency also warned that Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and La­gos states are likely to experience coastal flooding due to the rise in sea level.

In a related development, the Director-General of the National Emergency Management Agen­cy (NEMA), Malam Muham­mad Sani-Sidi, has alerted state governments and communities along River Benue to the possi­bility of heavy flooding between August and November this year, following the information that Cameroon will commence rou­tine release of excess water from its Lagdo Dam.

As a result of these warnings, the Lagos State Government has also alerted residents living in the coastal and low line areas of the state of an impending flooding.

We commend NIMET and NI­HSA for this timely warning. The governments of the flood-prone states should map out preventive steps to avert loss of lives and property to flooding. We say this considering the disastrous conse­quences of the 2012 flooding de­spite warning from the weather agencies.

Nigeria reportedly lost about N2.29 trillion to the 2012 flood disaster which was due to the unregulated release of excess water from Lagdo Dam. More than seven million people were believed to have been affected by the flood, while 2.3 million peo­ple were displaced. The disaster claimed about 363 lives and de­stroyed many houses.

To avoid a repeat of 2012 flood­ing episode, we call on the Fed­eral Government to assist the states with their flood control programmes. While the exist­ing drainages and canals should be cleared to ensure easy flow of flood, new ones should be con­structed, where they are needed.

We enjoin the public to desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse on drainages and other acts that encourage flooding. The local governments in the states which are likely to experience the flood should be involved in de-flooding programmes designed by the government.

Also, all the states along the River Benue should be particu­larly mindful of flood warning. The concerned states should set up disaster management com­mittees that will swing into ac­tion during emergencies, includ­ing flood. This committee should guide the public on how to cope with this problem.

There should also be public en­lightenment campaigns on the matter. Let all tiers of govern­ment take proactive measures to check flooding.