- Flood-prone states must heed warnings and take measures to mitigate disasters
Perennial flooding constitutes one of the most destructive and disruptive natural disasters in Nigeria, regularly causing large-scale social dislocation, deaths, unimaginable hardship and serious economic havoc in terms of properties, jobs and businesses lost or dislocated. In the massive floods that devastated large swathes of the country in 2012, for instance, several rural communities, towns and cities were affected in 30 out of the 36 states, resulting in at least 363 deaths, about seven million affected and financial disaster estimated at N2.6 trillion.
It is certainly to avoid a recurrence of this unsavoury experience that relevant weather regulation and management agencies such as the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) and the Hydrological Services Agency have issued flood alerts, warning of likely severe floods in at least 11 states from August to October, this year.
Areas that NIMET considers susceptible to flooding in its 2016 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction include Delta, Yobe, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Kaduna, Kwara, Nasarawa and Zamfara states. NIMET had observed, among other findings, that in the affected areas, “Soil moisture has either reached saturation or near saturation levels due to cumulative high intensity rainfall in some parts of the country in June and July … This means that floods should be expected in these areas because the soil is no longer able to absorb more rainwater in the coming weeks, which coincide with the peak of the rainy season”.
An indication of the seriousness of the flooding expected this year are the reports of flooding in six local government areas of Kano State, which, according to the Kano State Relief and Emergency Agency has destroyed at least 5,300 houses and displaced thousands of people. Kebbi, Jigawa and Cross River states have also reportedly experienced destructive floods in 2016. That the floods could still catch some states by surprise despite the country’s experience over the years with the phenomenon, particularly in the coastal zones and river catchment areas, is unfortunate.
This kind of laxity can only be attributed to lack of proactive long-term planning, defective enforcement of environmental and physical planning laws, inadequate public enlightenment and poor emergency response and management capacity, among others. There surely can be no credible excuses this time around for ineffective response across states to the impending floods, which they have been notified about even though there is no reason why the warnings could not have come much earlier. Even then, it is still better late than never and the affected states can still do a lot to mitigate the damage of the floods and the suffering of their people.
Lagos provides a commendable reference point in this regard as the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) has obviously taken concrete steps to enable the mega city cope with flooding, which had caused her much havoc in the past. For instance, the agency’s head of operations and logistics, Mr Femi Giwa, revealed recently that work is ongoing on a third relief camp at Lekki to complement the two already existing at Agbowa and Igando areas of the state. Earlier this year, the state’s capacity to respond to emergencies was enhanced by the construction of a fully equipped state-of-the-art intervention unit at Cappa in Oshodi.
Sustained tree planting campaigns to stem soil erosion, massive construction of drainage channels in areas vulnerable to flood and ensuring strict compliance with the state’s physical planning and urban renewal laws have also helped Lagos to tame the flood menace to a significant extent. Experts have advised that states likely to be affected by floods should also consider urgently implementing such strategies as controlling water flow through construction of water reservoirs, providing concrete reinforcement at critical river banks, relocation of people living in areas seasonally threatened by flood, construction of ponds and dams near river banks that overflow their boundaries and comprehensive slum grading in urban centres.
The current very severe economic crisis that has caused so much suffering for millions of Nigerians should also inform the sense of urgency with which governments at all levels react to the looming flood catastrophe. Apart from the very strong possibility of floods wiping away farms and thus worsening the prevailing chronic food crisis, serious disruptions occasioned by floods will seriously aggravate the country’s economic woes.
