With recurrent sad tales of floods ravaging communities across the country, Nigerians particularly those living in flood-prone areas and river banks are no longer at ease. It’s against this backdrop that KEHINDE OSASONA in this report wonders if there could ever be a solution.
Of climate change and its effects
For Paulina Agu, a vegetable farmer in Plateau state, 2019 will remain an unforgettable year in her life. Agu told this reporter that she obtained a loan to carry out the farming operation, but that till today she still agonises over the heavy floods that destroyed her farm.
She said the incident set her back in her farming business, adding that she is yet to recover from the destruction of her almost three-hectare farmland. “It happened in 2019, when the flood ravaged my farm and others in the same vicinity and I must say that we lost everything because I have not recovered from the loss.
“My greatest pain is that after losing the farm to the floods, I am still being pursued by the money lender, forgetting that I could not harvest not to talk of making profits from the farm,” she said.
When asked whether or not she insured her farm with the Nigerian Agricultural Insurance Corporation (NAIC), she said she didn’t do that, adding that the collections of vegetables like tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, maize, pepper varieties and others have short life spans which do not require being insured. Although flooding is a recurrent problem in the country, concerned residents are of the view that successive governments have not done enough to curtail its devastating effects.
But while carrying out documentation on the effect of climate change in the globe, researchers revealed that the effect encompasses not only rising average temperatures, but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas and a range of other impacts.
They added that as a result of climate change, precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, saying it usually comes with its effect. Like stakeholders have rightly noted, Nigeria like other parts of the globe has had her own share of the effect by experiencing flooding lately on a yearly basis.
Sadly, the yearly flooding menace in the country has not only defied preventive measures, but has continued to wreak havocs with agrarian communities and its vast populace at the receiving end.
In its submission to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Nigerian government was quoted as stated that its coastline is already undergoing pronounced morphological changes as a result of natural extreme events, such as sea surges and tidal waves.
Tie-back
During a 2020 flood advocacy visit to Yobe state sometimes in September, the Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Muhammad A. Muhammad, tagged some communities as highly probable of impending flood.
Some of the communities identified by the director-general were Geidam, Bade, Bursari, Karasuwa, Yusufari, and Yunusari local government areas.
Represented by Dr. Abubakar Suleiman, the director-general noted that apart from the destruction of houses, the annual occurrence of flood has continued to threaten the state’s agricultural potentials.
According to NEMA, the government has deployed strategies to minimize the increasing effect and losses by reiterating adherence to warning alerts, early preparations, and proper response.
“The 2020 flood outlook predicted that 102 local government areas in 28 states fall within the highly probable flood risk areas and unfortunately, it began to occur in many parts of the country,” the DG said.
While also sympathising with the people of Kebbi, Bauchi and Jigawa states following heavy flooding in some areas recently, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, hinted on the 2020 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction and the Annual Flood Outlook forecasts for different parts of the country.
Farouq said the Annual Flood Outlook forecasts postulated that 102 local government areas, in 28 states will have heavy rainfall, while 275 local government areas in the 36 states including the FCT will experience moderate flooding.
Some of the states mentioned were: Borno, Yobe, Gombe, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi, Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Niger, Kogi, Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Rivers and Akwa Ibom including Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Kwara, Zamfara, Sokoto, Lagos, Ondo, Bayelsa, Kaduna, Oyo, Ogun, Abia, Kano, Kebbi and the FCT.
Consistent flooding
In Abuja, for instance, flooding menace always leaves in its wake a tale of woes by the victims anytime it happens. While many residents have attributed the yearly flooding plaguing Nigerian communities and towns including the FCT to improper channelisation and poor drainage, others have cited government inability to construct a good road network as reasons. One of such people is a 30 years old Clerical Officer and a victim of the 2019 flooding.
Speaking with Blueprint Weekend, Joyce Isaiah who resides in Kabusa in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) who plies her trade in the city centre wondered why governments likes to wait till disaster happens before taking action.
She said, “My brother, I do not understand this whole thing again. Why is it that our government and its agencies always fail to demonstrate proactiveness when it matters, only for them to now start visiting the scene of the incident after the deeds would have been done; why?
“Can’t you see things for yourself too apart from bad roads; we do not have a good drainage system at all. So, tell me, how do you expect the flood to find its way order rather than to cause problems for residents?”
Another resident of Lokogoma, Aminulahi Adamu, described the whole situation as messy, urging the government to utilise the ecological fund in their kitty.
Making references, he said: “Look at my area, for instance, it has now become a yearly thing that flooding must occur and property destroyed. If you move farther to the Galadimawa area, which is another serious place where for some time now, somebody must die whenever there is flooding in the area. Tell me, ‘Does that not call for concern’?
“I think we should begin to ask questions on how the ecological fund is being spent. For me, until we start asking questions, we cannot have headway. Can anyone point out any cogent project that the so-called ecological fund is being spent on? If yes, then we also need to ask; how often do they disburse and who are the people carrying out the implementation.”
Taking a different path however, an environmentalist, Comrade Ponle Adebo, laid the blame at the door step of global warming plaguing the entire globe.
According to him, countries of the world have different calamities occasioned by climate change to contend with and they are coping well.
Nevertheless, she said, “Our problem here is that you hardly can hold anybody responsible for environmental degradation which often leads to some of this disaster. While the citizens are guilty, the government is also culpable.”
But with a spate of endless flood crises from Kwara, Yobe, Kogi, Kebbi, Benue and Abia, to mention a few, will it be out of place to ask whether or not NEMA is already overwhelmed by arrays of incidents occurring simultaneously across the country?
When our reporter tried to call NEMA to know what it is doing to give succor and mitigate flooding problems, the receiver from the other end declined to comment, saying he was not authorised to do so.
But a meteorological expert, Waidi Akinbode, told Blueprint Weekend that the increasing rainfall levels identified by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency are also a big factor whenever flooding and its effect are being discussed.
“Heavy seasonal rains are a regular feature of life in Nigeria and towns close to the country’s main rivers and banks are particularly vulnerable. So, the likelihood of rivers overflowing and flash floods has certainly triggered heavy rainfall across the country,” he said.
