…failure to dredge rivers, build dams causes flooding – experts
By Augustine Aminu, Yemi Olakitan, Hauwa Ali
Authorities in Nigeria said it is battling the worst flood crisis 10 years after the 2012 flood that caused serious havoc, admitting that the 2022 situation is beyond their control.
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said the floods in 27 of Nigeria’s 36 states and capital city have affected half a million people including 100,000 displaced.
In September, NEMA has cautioned that the excess water released in Cameroon from the Lagdo dam will cause heavy flooding in 13 states.
Among the states listed to experience flooding as a result of the dam opening are Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Niger, Nasarawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Cross River, Rivers, and Bayelsa.
At the time, according to Nigeria Meteorological Services Agency, had also raised the alarm that Kainji and Jebba dams have already started spilling excess water from their reservoirs.
It said this will have serious consequences on frontline states and communities along the courses of rivers Niger and Benue, adding that the released water from the Lagdo dam further complicated the situation.
NEMA also urged governments of the affected states to identify safe areas for evacuation, as well as make provisions for food items and other emergency response measures.
However, experts said the failure of government to be proactive has brought untold hardship to millions of Nigerians along the coastal cities.
The floods have submerged residential houses, churches, mosques, shops and completely washed away household items, farm produce and domestic animals, among others, especially in Kogi, Anambra, Bayelsa, Benue, Taraba, among others
Checks by NatureNews.Africa shows that the disaster has also destroyed thousands of hectares of farmland, worsening fears of a disruption of food supply in Nigeria.
Manzo Ezekiel, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), said since 2012, this (the flood-related deaths is the highest we ever had”.
Meanwhile, experts suggest that failure to dredging of River Niger due to corruption and mismanagement of funds, has contributed to the current flood crisis being experienced.
Dredging of the River Niger has remained a recurring project for every administration since independence.
Since the return to democracy in 1999, every successive administration.has claimed to have spent millions of naira on dredging, but the river
An initial contract was approved in 1998 to be funded through the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) but nothing was done because the initial contract did not take into consideration Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). The Obasanjo administration also made attempt at dredging the river to no avail.
The Yara’dua administration came, revisited and bequeathed it to the Jonathan’s administration. The government in 2011 approved the Lower River Niger Dredging Project from Warri, in Delta State, to Baro, in Niger State, to four contractors, including Fung Tai Eng Company Nigeria Limited, Dredging International Service Nigeria Limited, Van Oord Nigeria Limited and Williams Lloyds Technology Company Limited. President Jonathan at the maiden edition of the International Conference and Exhibition, ICE, organised by the National Inland Waterways Authority, NIWA in August 2014
Under the current administration, former Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi while appearing before the Senate Committee on Marine Transport to defend the ministry’s budget proposal for 2017 told the senators that the dredging of River Niger had been completed and attention would be shifted to the dredging of River Benue.
He was also quick to add that the all-important river would need constant maintenance work to allow for free flow of goods across the country. The assertion by Amaechi corroborates the account of his predecessor, Alhaji Idris Umar who, during the Jonathan’s administration, submitted that the River Niger had been completed and opened for navigation. However, few weeks after the submission at the senate, the minister flagged off the maintenance dredging of the same river.
Meanwhile Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue over the weekend charged National Assembly members of the state’s extraction to revisit a contract awarded by deceased President Umaru Yar’Adua for the dredging of River Benue, but was not executed
Ortom gave the charge in Makurdi after he inspected areas submerged by flood.
He charged the law makers to join forces and make a case for Benue, lamenting that the contractor had not done anything since the contract was awarded.
“The contractor has done nothing, yet he is not brought to book. Our people keep suffering because the river is not dredged.
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“Find out the status of the contract; why has it not taken off? If you do that, you will do the state a lot of good,’’ Ortom said.
He stressed that Benue communities would continue to suffer from flooding until the River Benue is dredged.
Gov. Ortom appealed to public-spirited individuals to complement government’s efforts by assisting flood-displaced families.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary, State Emergency Management Agency, Dr Emmanuel Shior, said that the agency had profiled the victims and started the supply of relief materials to them.
Shior said the agency had supplied relief materials to 24 communities displaced by the flood.In Rivers state, scores of persons have been trapped while many others were displaced from their homes by an unexpected flood that ravaged the entire Ikpide-Irri riverine community of Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State.
The flood in this community was said to have destroyed properties as well as agricultural produce such as crops, yams, cassava, groundnuts, potatoes, vegetables and plantains among others worth several millions of naira as the water level continued to rise every second.
The Jigawa State Government said at least 134 persons have so far died while property worth over N1.5 trillion have been lost to the recurring flooding in the state.
The Deputy Governor, Alhaji Umar Namadi said two local governments, Kirikasamma and Birniwa, are on the danger list.Namadi said the flood affected 272,189 people while 76,887 lost their houses, adding that one village was completely destroyed and a local government totally cut away from the rest of the state by road.
The Katsina State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) says 24 people lost their lives, while 245 others were seriously affected as flood and windstorm caused damages in the State.
Mr Umar Muhammad, its spokesman, made the disclosure while speaking to newsmen in Katsina on Friday.
He explained that all the 34 local government areas were seriously affected by the disaster.
According to him, following the windstorm and flood, several other persons sustained various degrees of injuries, adding that 16, 625 houses were damaged by the disaster.
The effects of Lagos state recent flooding has caused damage to homes and properties, loss of lives, disruption in livelihood suffered by the residents.
Apart from the state being a coastal city of being flood-prone, as over one third of its land mass is under water, the failure of authorities to prevent avoidable incidences is one of the reasons why the flood issues is worsening.
The local governments do not pay attention to environmental sanitation as most Drainages, canals and other water channels arround the city are either left unattended or blocked by illegal structures.
In a view to avert flood disaster in the State as presently experienced in some states of the federation, the Lagos State Government has called for immediate relocation of people living around the riverine area of the State.
The Call is in obedience to the Nigeria Metrological Agency’s (NiMet) several warning last month for State Governments to adopt measures to avert flooding in some listed states, Lagos inclusive.
The State Commissioner for environment and water resources, Tunji Bello while issuing the directive, also urged residents to be proactive.
Bello listed the affected places to include; Ketu, Alapere, Agric, Owode Onirin, Ajegunle, Alagbole, Kara, Isheri Olowora, Araromi Otun Orisha village, Agiliti, Maidan, Mile 12, Odo Ogun, Owode Elede, Agboyi 1, Agboyi II, Agboyi III.
‘The Ogun Oshun River Basin Development Authority releases water from Oyan Dam regularly.
In Kogi, flooding pounded the state so hard that several houses had been submerged, belongings destroyed and lives lost. About six persons, including a toddler, were killed by the flood that sacked communities in the Ibaji Local Government Area of the state. Over 600 hectares of rice farmland among several buildings were flooded due to the flood caused by the opening of the Lagdo dam and torrential rainfall.
The woes of residents affected by the flood wrecking different parts of the state have worsened with the scarcity of potable water which the state Ministry of Water Resources said was caused by the flood.
In Ilorin, Kwara State, rain fell from Thursday night and lasted till Friday causing intense hardship to the people of the ancient town. After the rain subsided, about six lives were lost while several property which included private buildings, bridges and culverts and fish farms were affected.
Over 60 per cent of lands in Anambra State are currently underwater, according to the State Emergency Management Authority. The development forced the state government to order closure of schools in the areas where over 700,000 people were displaced and 300 communities sacked.
About three weeks ago, dwellers of Pamadu, Majidadi, Kwara, Tambau, Gwalameche communities in Gombe State went to bed with the hope of sleeping soundly. They were however roused from sleep by floods which ravaged houses and displaced hundreds.
