All stakeholders must do more to minimise the damage
Torrential rains are creating an unfortunate potential of avoidable deaths and destruction of property due to a lack of mitigation planning. And without immediate adaptation measures, many Nigerians are now being plunged into further misery. A video clip being circulated on social media shows a man being swept away by flood at the Ikotun market, located in a suburb of Lagos. Nigerians must begin to imbibe the correct attitude to waste disposal because flooding in some of our major cities cannot be solely explained by the factor of nature. The habit of the people plays a crucial role in what has been happening over the years anytime it rains. Most of the drains are blocked due to the indiscriminate throwing on the roads and drainages, disposable empty cans, and pure water nylons, among others.
From the north to the south across Nigeria today, there are unending stories of anguish thrown up by submerged homes and vehicles in many communities and settlements. The real challenge is that the authorities responsible for mitigating the impact of floods seem to have no actionable plans. Yet, on 25 June, Vice President Kashim Shettima directed a shift from reactive response to proactive preparedness, saying the direction of the administration leaves no room for ambiguity in combating flood and other climate-related disasters. According to Shettima, preparedness, coordination, and early action must become the standard practice of how risk is governed in the country. But words are cheap.
With its urbanisation rate put at 5.5 per cent yearly and considered one of the highest rates in the world, the number of Nigerians at risk or vulnerable to flood hazards is high. It therefore came as no surprise that the heavy rain last weekend extended to many parts of the Southwest, flooding the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, from Ogere to the Sagamu inter change. On Tuesday, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) warned residents of coastal states to prepare for a heightened risk of flash flooding, as it forecasts sustained and widespread rainfall across southern Nigeria. On the same day, NiMet also predicted “thunderstorms and varying intensities of rainfall across several parts of the country.”
As we have repeatedly highlighted, flooding does enormous damage to the ecosystem and destroys public utilities. It also elevates the risk of hunger and malnutrition because of disruption of farmlands and commercial losses for farmers engaged in subsistence farming. But perhaps most significant is that we have lost thousands of people to flooding in the past decade while millions remain displaced. One needs to quickly recall the devastating effect of flooding in various parts of the country in times past. In the flood of 2012, according to NEMA, no fewer than 665 people died while the World Bank estimated losses at about $6.7 billion. More than three million people were displaced across the country.
Meanwhile, the Ecological Fund was established in 1981 to pool resources that would help mitigate natural disasters like flooding. From its inception, the fund originally constituted one per cent of the Federation Account but was reviewed upward to three per cent. Unfortunately, the management of the fund has been marred with controversy, essentially due to the discretionary powers given to the president in the disbursement. Such is the abuse of the Fund that officials of both the federal and state governments now see it essentially as a slush fund to be deployed for all manner of things.
However, at a period when the forces of nature are raging, Nigeria seems to be at the mercy of the environment. By ignoring early warnings in the past, several farms, roads, bridges, and homes have been submerged and several lives lost. We should do everything to avert these serial tragedies.