Flood still a menace 55 years after Independence

THEY all have one thing in common – sorrow.  They have been distressed by the loss of their valuables due to the recent flood in the federal capital territory.  No word seems to be adequate to describe the catastrophe unleashed on residents of the FCT by the flood in the last few weeks.

From one extreme end of Gwagwalada to the other extreme in the Mararaba/Kabayi axis on the exit side of the FCT to Nassarawa State, residents count their losses in monetary terms and even life.  An incident of a teen been carried away by the flood was recorded in Gwagwalada where over a hundred houses was submerged with properties and merchandise worth millions of Naira washed off by the flood.

That is the narrative for most states of the federation – Nasarrawa, Kogi, Delta, Katsina, Sokoto, Benue, Kaduna, Edo, Taraba, Kano, Bauchi, Niger, Anambra, Bayelsa, to mention but a few. Fifty-five years after independence, Nigeria is still battle with battling with flooding and its related challenges.
Nigeria has not had it funny since 2012 when the country experienced heavy flooding in some states of the federation including the FCT.  The reoccurring decimal since then has been the same, no thanks to the periodic release of water from the Lagdo reservoir in the neighbouring Cameroon coupled with deficient urban planning and implementation in Nigeria, the lack of proper waste disposal and management, among others.

Water they say will always find its own level.  When people obstruct its path, the goddess of water comes in a hot furry and on its own clears whatever material both animate and inanimate on its way.  It is no longer news that people suffer untold hardship when they fall victims of flood, with the loss of their homes which render them homeless and the attendant psychological trauma they have to go through while at the same time trying hard to bind the pieces of their lives together.

Most times, they make demands on government to come to their aid and assist them in the recovery process.  But the reality on ground is that these expectations may never come to reality and even when government decides to move in and help the people, the help usually comes in form of relieve materials which can best be described as handouts that are hardly sufficient for the people’s needs.  With the rains over, they return to the status quo until another rainy season begins and the same scenario is played out over the decades.

LAGDO DAM
The Cameroonian government had said that the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam will continue until November this year. By interpretation, Nigeria will continue to bear the brunt of the action of its neighbour and pretend as if nothing is amiss.  The dam which was built in 1977 and 1982 is located in the Northern Province of Cameroon and covers 586 square kilometres.

Constructed to serve as hydroelectricity dam for the supply of electricity to the Northern part of Cameroon and also for irrigation of farmland covering 15,000 hectares, the dam in 2012 overshot its 308m length, 40m height and 9m thickness and the water released from there caused flooding in many states in Nigeria including Adamawa, Kogi, Taraba, Kano, Bauchi, Anambra, Niger, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Rivers, Cross River and Bayelsa and Makurdi in Benue state alone had over 10,000 hectares of farmland washed off with deadly animals like crocodiles and other reptiles littering the city.  Many lives were lost across board while millions scanted for safety and survival.

Although, details of diplomatic engagement Nigeria is employing to address the situation and forestall a re-occurrence may not be easily available, going by what is on ground presently, the country seems helpless.

The Camerounian authority had said in 2012 that excess water was released from the dam on Friday 24th August due to heavy rainfall with more volumes to be discharged depending on how incessant the rain continued to be.  This of course sounded as if the Camerounian government is helpless about the situation because the indication is that the activity of the dam will be determined by the amount of rainfall and no one has power over the volume of rain the heavens may decide to release.

Impending danger is looming again and it had even started.  With River Benue taking its source from the Adamawa Plateau in the Cameroon and flowing through the lowland elevation of Adamawa, Taraba and Benue states before meeting River Niger in Lokoja, Kogi State, the steep elevation of the Adamawa Plateau coupled with the excess water from Ladgo Dam by the Cameroonian authorities poses a disaster for the lowland communities in the North Eastern parts of the country.

NEMA
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) told The Guardian that on receiving the flood alerts from the Camerounian authorities, it transmitted same through the media to the public, especially the frontline states downstream the River Benue. In addition, the Agency immediately established contacts with Governors of the likely to be affected states, alerting them to mobilize   communities along the flood plains to prepare and evacuate to safer locations. This is followed by advocacy visits to the states. The frontline states include Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Kogi, and Delta. The others are Niger, Nassarawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Bayelsa, Edo, Plateau, Kaduna and Rivers states amongst others.

The Press Officer, Manzo Ezekiel said before now, NEMA has undertaken the mapping of the flood prone communities through the Geographical Information System (AGIS) with a view to moving in immediately in case of any eventuality.  He said the agency is continuing the awareness creation by utilizing all available avenues and opportunities including the media to raise the level of awareness required to avert the repeat of the 2012 flood experiences.

His words: “The Agency has stockpiled relief materials for immediate deployment in case of flood victims. Though, NEMA still believes that relief intervention should be a matter of last resort if the people can just heed the warning by relocating to safer locations”.

“Beyond the warning from the Camerounian authorities which have already began to release the water from Lagdo dam, we are also contending with similar threats from River Niger. There are also other dangers within the country arising from blocked drainages in the cities and pockets of communities along a number of smaller rivers. NEMA has been reaching out to the respective Governors to take the necessary steps to avert the dangers of flood. Happily, a number of the state governors have begun to respond positively to the information received from NEMA”.

The agency estimated that the 2012 flood affected 7 million people, 2.3 Million people displaced, 597, 476 houses were destroyed and damaged, resulting in the deaths of over 363 people while an estimate of 2.6 trillion Naira was lost.

If the Camerounian authority make good its promise that water will continue to be released from the Dam up until November this year, what it implies is that, Nigeria will continue to bear the brunt of the action of its neighbour, with lack of lack of relevant structure, poor drainages and bad waste disposal methods.
FCT ABUJA

For now, the FCT is as filthy as anyone can imagine. Almost all the streets are littered with dirt washed overboard from blocked drainages.  Some Estates that are occupied by supposedly enlightened individuals are without drainage system and where developers decide to put drainages, they are so narrow that any slight rain could overrun them and landlords who build houses for either personal or commercial purposes refuse to cut drainages in front of their houses.  Some of them even opined that it is the responsibility of the government to cut drainages in front of their houses.

Incidentally, this line of thought was corroborated by the director, Development Control, Yahaya Yusuf.  He told The Guardian that part of the duty of government is to put infrastructures including drainages, in place before people begin to build. But the question is, in a situation where government fails to provide drainages, should owners of properties not take it upon themselves to do same after all, they are the ones to suffer the pains when flooding occurs.

An architect and resident of Lugbe, Ogwola Inalegwu Dominic stressed the importance of drainages. “As an architect I know the kinds of danger lack of drainages portend, it is an environmental hazard. So when I came to develop my plot here, of course all the houses on this street were already there but without drainages.  Apart from the fact that I don’t want water to enter my house, I have to extend the same gesture to others just as a way of my giving back to the society.

Drainages and proper water diversion and channeling are not what we should joke with, it saves our properties and lives and in the end, we are the beneficiaries”, he told The Guardian.

An Abuja resident, Johnson Edewo, who spoke with The Guardian, blamed the government for the havoc unleashed on people by flood. He identified lack of enforcement to make people comply with lay down rules and lack of infrastructures as the main challenge in almost all facet of the system.  He said even in advanced countries where things work fine, people are made to comply with rules and regulations, failure of which brings about sanctions to serve as deterrent to future offenders.

His words: “There is a saying that, when the head is bad, the whole body is bad also.  I know some might want to say we like to blame government, but the reality is that, it is the government that has the power and capacity to make law and enforce same.  In those countries we love to go to for holidays and vacation, their government enforces law, which is why their societies are the way they are.  Now where are the agencies that are saddled with the responsibility of making sure that buildings are erected to specifications?  Have you noticed that development control will put a mark of ‘STOP WORK’ on a building and the construction will still continue?  Something is amiss, someone may have taken some bribe somewhere and so people are defiant and they will just dismiss such order with a wave of the hand and continue as if nothing has happened.

“Look at how the whole Abuja is now, dirty and filthy as a result of the flood. There is an agency called Abuja Environmental Protection Agency meant to see to collection of refuse and all that but what do they do? Those young guys employed by the agency only go about extorting money from petty traders.  They are so many you will begin to wonder what their schedule is.  Government will say it’s creating jobs, is that how to create jobs? By paying people for doing nothing? You’ll see them sitting under trees and shrubs around the city doing nothing.

“What we have are these Hausa boys who go around collecting refuse in peoples’ houses and what do they do, they dump same beside the roads and canals around.  We can’t expect much from them because there are no infrastructures in place for waste disposal.  And where government do not put infrastructure in place, it is difficult to make enforcement because if you tell me not to drop a piece of paper on the floor, then you must provide where I will drop it.  Do you need to tell anyone not to drop paper on the streets in London or Dubai?  No because the infrastructures are there. So let us have infrastructures and then enforcement can be sweet and this will translate to a saner society”.

NASARAWA
Governor Tanko Al-Makura of Nasarawa state has approved 25 million naira for the construction of a temporary settlement camp for the Riverine community of Guto in Nasarawa Local Government as part of preparations to guard against the consequences of flooding this year. The intervention became necessary following the early warning of flooding by the Federal Ministry of Environment to coastal communities, which Guto community on the banks of River Benue from the Nasarawa axis lies.

The Governor who disclosed this in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, after an air surveillance of the coastal communities on the bank of River Benue, also promised to relocate the Palace of Oche-Agatu six kilometers from the present location believed to be threatened by flood.

Besides, the Government recently awarded a N800 million worth road contract, a corrective measure design to check incessant floods in Kabayi, Mararaba.  He said however that the rainy season had stalled the job but urged the residents to be patient until the rains subsided.  Mararaba road is the major route to Nasarawa state and the long span of road has no drainage at all, this is compounded by the way people drop refuse by the sides of the road and at the median.

“I took it upon myself to award contract to ensure that people living at that axis benefit from good roads. I have given a contract of over N800 million to have a road that will connect them with the main artery so that it will reduce the problem of traffic. But unfortunately, while the road was going on, the rains had arrived and there was nothing we could do; we can’t stop the rain from coming because we have project”, the Governor stated.

KOGI
Kogi state Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Tayo Aremu, said the government has set up a standing committee on flood management. “We have called stakeholders’ meeting and we have also had contacts with the relevant stakeholders tasked with the responsibility of tackling flood. We have identified quick-win actions that can be done to mitigate and contain flood.

“We have built some temporary IDP camps, made provision for relief materials and medical aids. These things have been provided for and ready for use. The government is collaborating with NEMA. This year, we are working to take the IDPs camps out of the schools to ensure they do not affect educational programme of the state. We are also monitoring the trend of the flooding. Now Benue State is experiencing it and the next will be Kogi and we are monitoring and getting the people sensitised.

“We are telling them to run to various camps where we have provided for them in case of flooding. We are also putting in place vehicles that will convey the people to the camps, to assist evacuation. We might not be able to carry everybody at once so we are telling them to get set to move.
“If they can move to a higher area, they should move, but if not, they should move to the designated IDP camps,” Aremu said.

DELTA
In Delta State, the government has constituted a committee chaired by the Deputy Governor, Barrister Kingsley Otuaro curb the effect of the impending flood. According to the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Patrick Ukah, though awareness campaign was going on in different riverine communities sensitizing them on the urgent need to move to safe areas, the Committee was necessary to reduce the effects of the impending disaster.

He said that the Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration was not leaving any stone unturned to safeguard the lives and property of Deltans, adding that the Committee would ensure that appropriate measures would be applied to educate and protect the people.

Also, the Commissioner for Environment, Mr. John Nani disclosed that the state has built temporary camps for intending Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in preparation for the 2015 flooding. Speaking after an Environmental Roundtable session in Abuja, in preparation for the 2015 flood, Nani said that the preparations followed the proposed plan to open up the Lagdo dam in Cameroun to release water as well as a response to the alert warnings from NIMET.

He said that the state’s Emergency Management Agency had been adequately empowered to handle the challenges.

KATSINA
The Director, Ecological at the Katsina State Ministry of Environment, Yahaya Sani, said that the state government has taken measures in readiness for the flooding adding that this informed the setting aside of two per cent of the state’s budget for natural disasters like floods.

“In Katsina, we set aside two per cent of our budget for natural disaster like flood and others. I urge other states to emulate us,” Sani said.

SOKOTO
Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State solicited the assistance of the Federal Government to tackle the challenges posed by ravaging floods in the State. Speaking shortly after a visit to Tangaza and Gudu local government areas of the State to assess the impact of flood in the area, he said the damage caused by flood this raining season was unprecedented.

In particular, the Governor said that the State need assistance to enable it resettle some villages and communities devastated by flood. Tambuwal who visited Sakkwai and Kutufare villages among others, said that state government has already set in motion process of ascertaining the damage done to homes and farmlands, adding that so far, many victims have been camped at government approved sites across the state. He cautioned residents of the two villages to desist from acts that could block waterways. So far, the flood has destroyed over 152 houses and many farmlands.‎

The response of the three tiers of governments over the years can best be described as reactive rather than pro-active. For instance, after the 2012 flood disaster, the response remained the same, building of temporary camps for displaced persons, stockpiling of relief materials, etc.