By Dr Muiz Banire
As I watch the daily woes unleashed on the citizens of Nigeria by the rampaging flood in the past few weeks, my heart bleeds. This is not so much because of the flood per se but because of my conviction that the consequence of the flood we are witnessing is avoidable. However, prior to delving into the substance of this discussion, permit me to extend my condolences to the families of those who lost their lives to the flood, while also sympathizing with the injured, the displaced and all those that lost their properties in one form or the other to the flood.
With this disposed, the immediate question is, should this have been the lot of Nigeria? I certainly believe not. In this discourse, I shall try to be as elementary as possible, avoiding the use of technical words where practicable. In our world today, it is no news that the climate is changing due to the depletion of the ozone layer. That global warming is affecting all parts of our lives is equally no news again. Our conventional climate is changing by the day. Weathers are no more predictable in the manner we have known. It is now a herculean task knowing when the wet season will be and when the dry spell is approaching. The weather calendar, to say the least, is now erratic. The greens are fast disappearing and desertification is on the prowl. Water is drying up, thereby rendering the struggle for water inevitable.
The ecosystem is already depleted to the extent that the various species of animals in the ecosystem are vanishing. Erosion is fast shrinking available land while flood is taking its toll. All these are global occurrences that no country of the world can pretend not to know. The unfortunate thing about the Nigerian situation is that, quite unlike most other countries of the world that are afflicted with one consequence or the other, Nigeria is bombarded with all the three broad impacts of climate change. While the country suffers desertification in the north, the eastern part of Nigeria is afflicted with coastal erosion while the western part of the country suffers from torrential rain falls, leading to heavy flooding. This is the predicament of Nigeria for some time now. With this picture that the country is well acquainted with, should the country be caught unawares and nagging? Me think not.
Since 2012 when the country witnessed the last devastating flood, several threatening floods had occurred between then and now. I recall vividly that of 2013 in which more than 81,500 people were affected, with 25 deaths; in 2017, 90 people were reported dead; in 2018, 242 people lost their lives; in 2019, a total of 277,555 people were affected, with 158 deaths, and in 2020 no fewer than 68 people died. The import of all these is that Nigeria is fully aware of its vulnerability to flood disaster. I listened to the lamentations of the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, reeling out statistics of calamities that befell our people as a result of the flood, and believe that these are preventable losses if only we are serious as a country with governance and concerned about the welfare of our people. All that is required is being proactive.
According to the minister, 603 Nigerians are dead, so far, two million Nigerians displaced, over 103,393 hectares of farmlands partially destroyed, with 332,327 hectares totally damaged; 2,407 Nigerians injured, partially damaged houses are in the region of 121,318, with 82,053 houses totally destroyed. The minister proceeded to warn further of the likely devastating consequences in some states such as Rivers, Cross River, Delta, Bayelsa and Anambra, particularly if inhabitants of the flood-prone areas and flood plains failed to relocate from such areas. The further implication of the above is the threat to the country’s food security as most states impacted constitute the food basket of the nation and this period ought to be the harvest. Interestingly, I read that even the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company is having its own challenges due to the flood, to the extent of breaching several contractual agreements under the cover of force majeure.
In the same vein, the governor of Bayelsa State, Hon, Duoye Diri, recognizing the magnitude of the disaster, has called for declaration of national emergency. As Bayelsa State stands currently, the state is already below sea level with everything threatened. So many roads across the country are already submerged. A good example of this is the Ughelli/Asaba expressway in Delta State. The Federal Government’s main response so far is the condemnation of Cameroon for opening the Lagdo dam. This is really amazing! Is this not medicine after death? This consequence ought to have been averted, if only the country were proactive, as remarked above.
This event is foreseeable and prior engagement ought to have taken place with the management of the Lagdo dam. It is not after the act that we start heaping blames. Anyway, the current situation has gone beyond blame game. I remember my days as the Commissioner for the Environment in Lagos State when the state used to have similar experience with the Asejire dam. I made it a routine to engage the management of the dam regularly so as to know when and how to offload the water and the preparations necessary to be made by the state. This undoubtedly assisted the state in ensuring impact-free flooding. This is what ought to have been done in this respect and not a postmortem that is being embarked upon now.
Just I was drawing the curtain on this piece, I was reliably informed that Cameroon actually informed Nigeria of the plan to discharge water from the dam and the country only failed in its usual characteristic manner to prepare and put in place adaptation measures. This is the lackadaisical attitude of our leaders as opined by an elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark. The complementary strategy ought to have been the construction of the Nigerian side of the dam in Benue, which I understand, as usual, has been in the pipeline since the 2012 flood. It is in this regard that I align with Chief Edwin Clark that, “Instead of blame game, one would have even expected a responsible government that swore to an oath, to see to the welfare of the people, to have taken steps to alleviate the sufferings, by building the Lagdo Dam in Benue State 10 years after the last disaster that ravaged the country in 2012.
“Unfortunately, the Federal Government seems to be nonchalant over the plight of the citizens in the Niger Delta. For instance, in Bayelsa State, there is a palpable case of humanitarian crisis. Most communities of the state, including the majority parts of Yenagoa, the state capital, are under water. The people of the state who do not have where to go have resorted to some crude accommodation of pinning sticks inside the water, with a platform, which they use as bed, made up of cellophane bags. The Federal Government has not done anything to reduce the plight and suffering of the people.”
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This is the lamentation of an elder statesman. Beyond this essential major intervention of constructing an alternate dam, the present call on the people in the flood plains to relocate would appear belated but, for whatever it is worth, it is better late than never. Again, sharing from my experience, these people ought to have been evacuated much earlier before the devastating effects crawled in.
Rainfall does not suddenly start banging. Technology warns as it is approaching. In fact, there is the crude way of detection, which is as soon as the hurricane is landing in the Americas, I guess within the next 14 to 21 days, if my recollection is correct, the country must be expecting torrential rainfall, and eventual flood. As part of the proactive measures, the lagoon, which in most instances is where the water ultimately empties, ought to have been dredged, thereby creating substantial cavity to receive the rainwater. If this is not done and there is so much rainwater, the consequence is for the lagoon to be above the approaching water discharged from the town collectors, the implication of which is that there will be tidal lock.
The water regresses to town, its origin in the first instance. Where this happens, the natural inclination is for the water to move into the wetland areas until the lagoon level recedes. Regrettably, where are the wetlands? If Lagos State is used as an example, they are all virtually reclaimed through land reclamation.
As Fela Anikulapo sang, “water go find im level”. This means that, in the absence of the wetlands, which ought to serve as the temporary buffer zone housing the water, it departs into our various homes and human surroundings.
This is when we then witness the catastrophes reeled out by the Honourable Minister.
You can now appreciate the reality that the harm we suffer is largely self-inflicted. As part of the desirable steps to be taken urgently, members of the public need to be kept abreast of weather variations. I concede that this is being done but not in an aggressive manner that is required. Beyond the public announcements, visitations to the flood plains and flood-prone areas are imperative. This is the only way to reach these people who are the vulnerable. Remember that a larger percentage of the inhabitants are the downtrodden who are wretched.
They cannot afford to purchase newspapers, much less accessing any of the electronic media. There is also the need to have the community buy into the various programs so that they can take ownership of the schemes. The truth is that if the country intends to tame the consequences of flood, she needs to be proactive at all times and prepare for the impact routinely, just in the same way we aggressively prepare for social events. There must be quarterly desilting of all the tertiary and secondary drains while annual dredging of the canals and lagoons must be done.
These are a must. Again, where are the transit camps for the victims? Mostly non-existent. All the States, including the federal government, ought to have constructed transit camps on a permanent basis. What is the usefulness of the ecological funds, the environmental funds, the emergency and disaster funds? There is no progressive part of the world where this is not done. All emergency agencies of the federal and state governments must possess all relevant equipment for the purpose of channelization and draining the water from the various communities.
This is apart from procuring emergency evacuation equipment. The truth remains that there is no country shielded from the impacts of climate change. What is most important is that mitigation and adaptive measures be put in place. This is where planning and preparation comes to play. The Nigerian government and the States must, therefore, embark on partnership to stem the tide of this impactful flood. There must be a national template for preparation and response to the emerging disasters.
This is the way to go. God willing, I shall endeavour to discuss the various mitigation and adaptation measures the country can adopt in stemming the impacts of climate change.
Source: sunnewsonline.com
