Future floods

By Femi Macaulay

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One saying strikingly captures the country’s flood experience this year: It never rains but it pours.  The troublesome floods brought many troubles.

Sadly, devastating floods in Nigeria are still hitting the headlines. This year’s floods have been described as the worst in the country since 2012. Many parts of the country were affected. Indeed, reports said the floods affected 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states. Official figures indicate that the floods displaced more than 1.4 million people, killed more than 600 and injured more than 2,000.

In addition, flooding destroyed vast agricultural land, disrupted fuel supplies, and caused food price increases. Also, it caused contamination of water sources that led to a cholera outbreak in the northeast of the country, which took more than 60 lives.

The Federal Government blamed the disaster on unusually heavy rains and climate change.  That was convenient, and gave the impression that the main contributory factors were beyond the control of the authorities. But it doesn’t tell the whole story.

The authorities glossed over an important point, the fact that the Federal Government’s non-completion of the construction of the Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State had aggravated the flooding. Nigerian authorities had an agreement with the Cameroonian government to build the dam in order to contain the overflows resulting from the recurrent release of water from the Ladgo Dam in Cameroon.

The construction of the Lagdo Dam started in 1977 and was completed in 1982. It’s puzzling that Nigeria has not fulfilled its own side of the agreement between the two countries 40 years after as the Dasin Hausa Dam remains uncompleted.  The Federal Government should be blamed for such an inexcusable delay that worsened flooding in Kogi, Benue and other states in the northeast this year.

Other identified problems that exacerbated the flooding were arbitrary construction on natural flood plains and storm water paths, and poor drainage systems, which were compounded by weak enforcement of environmental regulations.

The problem is not over as flooding is expected to continue this month in Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta and Rivers states.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq was reported saying “there was enough warning and information about the 2022 flood,” and alleged that local governments, states, and communities failed to act on the warnings.

Interestingly, the Director General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Mohammed, echoed the minister’s words when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties, on November 7, to defend his agency’s 2023 budget proposal.

He also warned: “This flood is still coming in 2023.” He said his agency had written to states several times, adding “They must be advised early to set up State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) and local emergency committees and fund them adequately.” The NEMA boss said states had “ignored” early warnings concerning this year, suggesting that the destructive consequences could perhaps have been avoided.

His words imply that there are still states lacking emergency management agencies. Notably, in May 2016, NEMA had supplied information that there were no emergency management agencies in 11 states. It is unclear if the information is correct today.

At the time, the agency’s then director general, Sani Sidi, represented by a deputy director, Kayode Fagbemi, was reported to have said on the sidelines of a workshop in Abuja: “Each state is expected to have its own State Emergency Management Agency and NEMA has been advocating this by visiting governors to draw their attention as to why it is very important.

“Many have seen the need to build their SEMAs. But we can’t force them because we are in a federation and the state governors have their own executive powers and budget. But they need emergency response agencies, because it is very important. There are 25 states that currently have SEMAs in Nigeria.”

The importance of disaster preparedness, disaster risk reduction and disaster response cannot be overemphasised, particularly concerning a perennial problem like flooding related to the rainy season. The three levels of government in the country, federal, state, and local governments should be involved in dealing with such flooding emergencies.

It is noteworthy that the Bayelsa State Emergency Management Agency (BYSEMA), for instance, said 1,344,014 people had so far been directly affected in the state by this year’s flood.  The agency also said 1,210,183 people were displaced from their homes. The data, dated November 4, showed that 96 deaths had been recorded, and Yenagoa Local Government Area had the highest fatality figure.

BYSEMA Chairman Walamam Igrubia noted that the flooding affected several communities across the state’s eight local government areas, destroying farmlands, school buildings and health facilities among others. He stressed that reports and data indicated that Bayelsa was the most flood-impacted among the states in the country.

The questions are: Did the state get any warning from federal authorities as alleged by the minister and the NEMA boss? What did the state government do to prevent the flooding or to lessen its impact within its territory? These questions also apply to other states affected by the floods.

It may well be that federal and state authorities failed to learn the right lessons from the consequences of the 2012 floods which then President Goodluck Jonathan had called “a national disaster.”

The floods that year were described as the worst in 40 years. At the time, NEMA said 30 of the country’s 36 states were affected. The flooding killed more than 350 people and displaced more than 1.2 million people. Jonathan released N17.6bn to various states and agencies for damage response, flood relief and rehabilitation. Indiscriminate construction, deficient drainage systems and regulatory inadequacies had contributed to the disaster then, just like now.

NEMA has sounded the alarm on flooding in 2023. It’s not too early to start planning how to tackle floods in the country next year. The rainy season comes and goes. Today’s floods outstripped yesterday’s; and tomorrow’s floods may well surpass today’s.

Why floods happen, how to possibly prevent them, how to prepare for them, how to respond to them and how to minimise their impact are among vital questions that demand answers.