2022 FLOODS OF NIGERIA: NOW THE FLOODING IS DRYING UP, WHAT THE GOVERNMENTS MUST DO
The hard flooding that ravaged the River basins in Nigeria, this season, became very pronounced in the month of August 2022, and began to displace and severely drown all communities in the basin and alluvial deltas of the region, from early September 2022. These levels of flooding exceeded any prior incidents of the past 40 years. In spite of the clear rainfall and weather patterns, recorded and scientifically verified that the Niger and Benue River Basins, have 10 year progressions in which they cause very devastating havoc to the environs that they traverse onward to the Bights of Benin and Biafra, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean, these much heavier floods of the 2022 caught the entire country by surprise.
Indeed, the Nigerian Meteorological Service Organization warned and predicted that the flooding would be severe, but the Organization also was not able to predict the harder and higher scope, dangers, damages and cost of the floods, both human and material, up to when it began to recede at the 3rd week of October 2022.
The Federal and State Governments had zero pro-active contingency plans, opting mostly to react to public pleas for aid, condemnations, assistance and offering of revictualings to thousands of persons displaced from their homes and communities. This approach to Administration and governance is sad and tragic, and denies the available capacity of the governments to envision, plan and implement measures that will foreclose these partly man-made and avoidable material and human costs, from being borne by the unexpecting, unsuspecting populace.
ACCUSATIONS AND POINTING OF FINGERS – THE BLAME GAME
The ferocity, and devastation caused by the ever rising and spreading water levels, took on the color of more grave consequences. First was the pointing of accusing fingers that the governments did not put out early warnings, and were thus incapacitated in evacuating the submerged communities: what were the forms of evacuations expected? What resources and infrastructure do Governments all over Nigeria have for giant-scale rescues involved in the period? The rush to secure open schools, accommodations in educational institutions, were stymied by the schools’ calendars, which are active at this time of the year. Food, clothing, beddings and watercrafts for rapid rescues were arranged by governments under full stretches and stress: executive and legislative allocation/voting of emergency funds, inept and corrupt practices by officials were enumerated as hindrances, and it increased red tape and complaints. There were reports of more than 1,000 persons who lost their lives and some boats overloaded and capsized. And The additional efforts of Non Governmental Organisations, NGOs, contributed immensely in reducing hardships, blames and complaints. The prediction that the flooding would begin to recede in many areas by October 19-21, 2022, turned out to be accurate. Those who blamed the opening of the Ladgo dam in the Cameroun, saw that the faults being attributed were wrong. Yet two questions continued to beg for answers: 1. how come the severity of the 2022 flooding had surpassed those of
the preceding 70 years? 2. all the increased water levels and sheds, from what new sources did they come from, falling rains? The patterns of very heavy rains and flooding of ten years, why the pattern of very low rains in intervening years, until the years ending in the Gregorian calendar numeral 2-such as 1982, 1992, 2002, 2012, and 2022, which has turned out to be the heaviest?
Are these the effects of Climate Change, de-glaciertion in the Arctic regions? But the sources of the Rivers Niger and Benue, from where our flooding in Nigeria originate, have no direct linkage to the glacial Arctic and Antarctic regions? We need more science based assessments, and interventions to reach a clear convincing conclusion on where these floods originate from, especially the ten year intervals that precede the most heavy floods.
WHAT MUST GOVERNMENTS DO NOW THE FLOODING HAS RECEDED?
We have sufficient scientific proof that there is a clear pattern of very heavy flooding of the Niger and Benue River basins, every ten years: the accusations of the opening of the Ladgo Dam in the Camerouns is not only false, it does not carry weight. The same dam is opened annually, in late August or early in September, and the earlier the opening of the dam, the higher will be the risk of very heavy flooding. The River Niger basin, originating from the Guinean Hills of the Futa Jalon, does not suffer the accusations of being the cause of the ten yearly excessive floods, because of the massive diversion of waters in Burkina Faso and Niger Republic. Since Nigeria is not able by regional and international obligations or laws to determine how these other sovereign states, use or control the waters running through their territories, except by negotiations in bilateral or multilateral Agreements, we must within the confines of the rational and reasonable, seek to mitigate the effects of the flooding in our communities: it is already accepted that the communities straddling the two River basins, stretching from the confluence in Lokoja, flowing southward down to the delta basin, bear the heaviest brunt of these horrendous ten yearly floods. The total distance covered in this entire critical zone of flooding is about 70 kilometers, excluding the myriad tributaries in the Niger delta as the river cascades to the Bights of Benin and Biafra, into the Atlantic Ocean. What are the major works that can be done to alleviate and cure the vulnerabilities of these zones and communities, to protect them from the levels of devastation that were recorded in the floods of 2022? Here are projects and responsibilities that the Federal Government, and State Governments that are affected, can routinely but effectively undertake, now the floods have receded:
a. Multi-partite De-Flooding Commission of the Federal and State Governments, in conjunction with the Nigerian Meteorological Organization, and all stakeholder Emergency Relief organizations, (especially the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs), must be constituted to jointly study, deleanate, and recommend steps to reduce the effects of flooding:
b. study patterns of alluvial accumulation and flow of waters and recommend joint efforts to evacuate silt, channel excess running water, tributaries and streams, on the stretch of the entire basin, on to the end of the Niger Delta:
c. fund and engage consortia of core financial, architectural drawing-design and engineering multi-national firms to undertake massive Sandfilling, construction of embankments, and concrete slabbling of the long stretches of the flooding prone areas:
d. Allocation of required and sufficient funds by individual State Governments affected by the flooding viz Niger, Benue, Adamawa, Kogi, Anambra, Delta, Imo, Abia, Bayelsa, and River States, towards the engagement and undertaking of massive Sandfilling, dredging, channeling, massive concrete slab encasements-embankments, to protect and the preserve the stretches of rural and urban valleys of the basin from annual flooding or ten yearly destructive floods:
e. Constitution of local emergency evacuation, settlement, provisions of materials of food, clothing, temporary or periodic accommodations, resettlement, return, rehabilitation and re-engagement of displaced persons.
PLAYING POLITICS WITH NATURAL DISASTERS
Even outside of the periods of elections, Governments and politicians are well known for playing politics with natural disasters, especially flooding: what more now that the Campaigns for 2023 General Elections are officially in full swing. Granted that global climate change issues have taken center stage at local, national and international levels ( COP 27 International Summit is taking place now in Sham el Sheik, Egypt), officials in government, and politicians, have tended to play politics of concern and care by pretending to visit and provision for persons and communities in distress, due to the massive destructive flooding of August-October 2022.
Whereas these governments have full knowledge of the periodic, annual and ten yearly occurrences of these floods, they see them as tools of campaigns, deceits, and promises, forgotten once the floods recede. This must not be so. Hardly can one find a Government, including that of President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, and all the affected State Governments, NGOs and other aide organizations, that have made or planned to reveal plans that will authoritatively cater for and provide all the required resources needed to reduce and eliminate the severe consequences suffered by Nigerians , in the massive floods of the year 2022; in which close to 1,000 persons died, and properties worth about N40 Billion were lost. With direct focus and massive concentration, truly detailing and sticking to the recommendations on the preservation of our communities and environment; we can reduce and eliminate the major consequences of the flooding. Our governments owe these to our people.
Signed:
Dr. Orefo Nnamdi Onochie
Ebube Dike Ji Ofor Ahaba & Nigeria
PDP-PRP 2023 Presidential Aspirant
Founder-Convener: Onochie Political Action Conference (ONOPAC)
