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Despite the yearly ritual of flood disasters, Nigerians appear unwilling to prepare for the rainy season, thereby exposing themselves to unprecedented casualties and multi-million naira damages

|  By Olu Ojewale  |  Jul 24, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT  |

IT appeared nobody saw it coming. At least not Israel Ominiyi, a businessman and a resident of Lekki Phase I and few others like him.  The torrential downpours which fell across the country, between Friday, July 7 and Sunday, July 9, caught a lot of people unawares as flood water took over the residence of a great number of people as long as the rainfalls lasted. Some persons were forced to relocate, while others were simply trapped in their houses fearing to go out.

On Saturday, July 8, Omoniyi had to vacate his residence with his wife and four-month old child to squat with a fellow church member, who lives at Lekki Phase II.  “We will return to the house after the flood subsides to see if there is anything we can still salvage. I have been living in that house for the past three years and this has never happened before. It was a strange experience,” he said.

Omoniyi is not alone in this predicament. There is Justina Odikpo, a resident of Ilasan, a neighbouring community of Lekki Phase I. Odikpo was similarly forced out her residence and had to sleep in an uncompleted building far away from the area when the flood took over her apartment also on Saturday. She blamed the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation, LSDPC, for situation, which she said was caused by sand filling a swampy portion of the area.

“The last time we had this kind of experience was in 2011. But the one that happened on Saturday was man-made. We have been having flood issue since the LSDPC started filling a swamp beside us. Instead of the agency to channel the water into a gutter so that it could flow away, it didn’t do that. We have been fighting with them over this problem until the rain of Saturday. As I speak with you, the flood destroyed almost all the things I have. All my clothes and property have been destroyed. I don’t know what to do now,” Odikpo said.

Another victim of Lekki Phase I, who identified himself simply as Gabriel, said he had relocated his family to a friend’s house in a part of Lekki Phase II that was not affected by the water. “It damaged my home theatres, among other things. The rain started overnight and caught everybody unawares.  All the houses in my area were affected,” he said.

Indeed, the torrential rains which fell in that three to four days caused a lot of worries even for the Lagos State government as residents of highbrow Victoria Island, Lekki, Ajah and some parts in the mainland experienced flooding. Most of those who were sacked from their respective houses had to wait for the floods to recede before returning home.

Areas worst hit include the highbrow Lekki-Victoria Island axis, where motorists, on Saturday, July 8, spent up to six hours to escape the water-logged roads and expressway. Heavy floods took over the entire Ahmadu Bello Way in Victoria Island, Lagos, forcing some residents and commercial offices to quickly and unceremoniously vacate their premises.

To avoid casualties, the Lagos State Police Command temporarily closed the road to human and vehicular movement due to threat by heavy flood.

Government said it had earlier warned people to vacate the flood-prone areas because of the expected intense rains.

Apart from flooding, many parts of Lagos Island were also thrown into darkness because the floods soaked power facilities. Mercifully there was no report of any casualty. But some persons in other parts of the country were not so lucky.

For instance, there was the case of Sa’adu Abubakar, a tea vendor, also known as Asha, who lost his two wives and six children in the flood that ravaged a Niger State community after a heavy downpour on Sunday, July 9.

Narrating his ordeal to the press, Abubakar said that the incident occurred while they were asleep only to be woken up by the sound of one of the walls of their building collapsing.

He said his neighbours were unable to assist because of the strong waves of the flood as they all watched helplessly as his children and wives were swept away.

Abubakar, who said he was lucky to be alive said that he initially had two of the children in his arms while the first wife had others, but the wave of the water overpowered them. “The next thing I could remember was that I was lucky to have been pegged by a tree which helped me to escape death,” he said.

Also killed were 11 people and more than 50 houses destroyed in the floods caused by the heavy rain in Suleja and Tafa Local Government areas of Niger State.

At the time of this report, the Niger State Emergency Management Agency officials said that they had so far recovered eight bodies. The 11-hour downpour which started Saturday, July 8, also killed uncountable livestock animals and hundreds of hectares of cultivated farmlands were submerged.

Ibrahim Ahmed Inga, director general of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, NSEMA, said four areas in Suleja were badly affected by the last Saturday, July 8. He disclosed that 90 houses were destroyed, and no fewer than 500 people were displaced. He said that there was the possibility of using primary schools in the area as temporary camps for survivors.

Asked how many farmlands were destroyed, the director general said the agency had yet to take the inventory until securing a camp for those affected were affected is completed.

Another source of concern is that the casualty figure might grow even bigger over time as the search for survivors and deceased continues. According to authorities many people were yet to be found or recovered, while hospitals were struggling to treat all those affected by the flood.

In Katsina State, the flood wreaked havoc in Kaita town of Kaita Local government area, where more than 100 houses were destroyed and over 2,000 persons were also rendered homeless following the heavy down pour of Sunday, July 9.

Umar Muhammad, public relations officer, the Katsina State Emergency Management Agency, KSEMA, who confirmed the incident, said no death was recorded.

He said assessment was ongoing to establish the level of the humanitarian disaster caused by the flood.

Many homes in Ibadan, Oyo State were on Sunday, July 9, flooded by early morning downpour.

Although no death was recorded, the state authorities said properties worth many millions of naira were destroyed after five hours of continuous rainfall.

Many farmlands and fish ponds were said to have been swept away by the flood. Mostly affected by the flood are Odo-Ona Kekere, Arapaja, Akala Way and Gbekuba.

Indeed, Ibadan and several other areas, towns and villages close to it have experienced flood many times this year since the start of rainfall. The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, blamed the situation on the failure to obey town planning rules.

Hence, the agency recommended demolition of structures built on water ways to prevent incessant flooding and loss of lives.

Akin Makinde, secretary of the Oyo State Emergency Management Authority, confirmed the flooding in some parts of capital city, which he blamed on non-adherence to town planning rules and regulations.

“The problem is that people built houses on water ways. The government is dredging the rivers but our people must help themselves,” Makinde said.

In Lagos State, Babatunde Adejare, commissioner for Environment, who inspected the affected areas, allayed fears of residents. Adejare used the opportunity to urge residents “in the habit of dumping refuse indiscriminately, especially in drainage channels, to stop forthwith,” saying that engaging in such would not only portend health hazards, but could also lead to loss of lives and property.

He said dumping refuse in drainage meant to take flood water to the lagoon blocked such channels and as such had dire consequences that could lead to loss of lives and properties.

“The lagoon is swollen up. There is high tide, so it would lock on our outfalls; the water would not recede or go into the lagoon as fast as it used to be, so that’s one of the main reasons why we are having flooding all over the place and coupled with our own man-made problems such as people blocking the drainage channels, people even building on drainage channels; that’s what has also been causing all these problems,” he said.

Similarly, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State said his administration is taking immediate steps to find a holistic solution to the problem of flooding in the state. Ambode spoke on Monday, July 10, at the Water Technology and Environmental Control, WATEC, sensitisation programme in Lagos, saying there was even more urgent need to embark upon a review and re-engineering of the canals and drainage systems in the state.

Besides, Ambode pledged that the government would henceforth be stronger in enforcing physical planning laws, especially those building illegally on canals and blocking the free-flow of water across the state.

In any case, the governor said that the issue of flooding is not peculiar to Nigeria alone. He recalled that Britain was heavily flooded this year and, indeed, witnessed some of its worst flooding since records started in 1901. He also talked about Japan, a country that was equally technologically savvy, which had also not been spared heavy flooding this year.

“No matter how well a society may be prepared, we can never rule out the element of the natural or if you like, the supernatural. This is why Lagos State, and, indeed, Nigeria, fully subscribes to the tenets of Climate Change Solutions by the United Nations,” Ambode said.

Chudi Ubosi, estate surveyor and president, International Real Estate Federation, FIABCI, African region, said in an interview some property might lose their tenants and the cost of house repair might be high. But he doubted if the situation would affect the value of the affected houses. “Tenants may relocate to houses with less chances of flooding. But whilst many think that it may impact negatively on properties values, it is doubtful. The demand to be near to work locations is high and many tenants will still choose to live on the Island than make the shuttle across the mainland,” he said.

Ubosi said the government needed to study the drainage system to know its shortcomings. He urged the state government to be bold to demolish property that might need to be done away with for better drainage. “The issue of multiple sand filling and creation of new estates needs to be put on hold until the government can undertake an environment impact analysis of these projects. Maintenance of the current drainage system must be undertaken with regular cleaning,” Ubosi said.

In his own assessment, Remi Makinde, a former president, Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, NITP, linked the cause of the flooding to non-adherence to the master plans of Lekki, Victoria Island and Ikoyi. He said the full implementation of the plans would provide a solution to all environmental problems in the area. According to the environmental impact analyst and assessor, the master plans provide drainages, which have not been fully dredged probably because of the huge financial implications.

He appealed to the Lagos State government to prioritise tackling flooding by making funds available. The renowned planner compared the latest flood to the 1991 incident when there was a 15-day continuous rain during the administration of General Raji Rasaki, which led to the demolition of Maroko. Government, he said, should ensure that the drains, as stipulated in the master plans, are constructed.

According to Makinde, even in the Eko Atlantic City project, there is a master plan as contained in the Environmental Impact Assessment, EIA, which is supposed to address all the environmental issues, including flooding. He reasoned that this may not have been constructed due to financial constraints, but when it is done, he said it would provide a solution to the environmental problems on the island.

He, therefore, urged proper sensitisation of Lagos residents to the disposal of refuse in the drains so that they don’t block them.

According to experts, the current flood is not yet as deadly and disastrous as the ones that happened in 2012 and 2016. In 2012, about 6000 houses were destroyed; no fewer than 2.1 million people displaced and several thousands of people were unaccounted for.

Indeed, President Muhammadu Buhari had on Tuesday, November 15, 2016, informed the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change taking place in Marrakech, Morocco, that more than 2.1million people had been displaced by devastating floods in the country since 2012.

According to a statement by Femi Adesina, his special adviser on Media and Publicity, the president was quoted as saying that Nigeria had no choice but to key into the global action on climate change.

“If not addressed by 2050, the human and financial cost would be colossal. For us in Nigeria, the larger dimension of the challenge goes beyond emission rights. Survival rights are also at stake,” the president said.

Buhari then declared the resolve of the federal government to implement policies put in place to address climate change for the benefit of its citizenry.

Little wonder that the federal government found it imperative on Wednesday, July 12, to approved N1.6 billion to compensate victims of floods that ravaged 16 states. Adesina, who disclosed this to reporters at the end of the federal executive council, FEC, meeting, said the fund would be taken from Ecological funds domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

He said Kemi Adeosun, minister of Finance, had been directed to release the N1.6 billion to the NEMA for the states.

He said: “The acting president has approved the sum of N1.6 billion as immediate intervention for the victims of flood in 16 states that have been ravaged by flood.

“The states are Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Lagos, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo and Bayelsa.

That notwithstanding, federal government has also warned that Nigerians should brace up for more rainfall and its attendant flooding. It predicted that the monsoon wind would bring rain from the West Africa coast around between June 22 and September/October. This is expected to land along with sea rise that could lead to increase in the amount of water in low lying coastal areas of Lagos and other states.

Suleiman Adamu, minister of Water Resources who gave an update on Wednesday, July 12, said flood would spread to 30 states and more than 100 Local Government Areas.

According to the minister, a sensitisation of the entire nation by visiting the grassroots would be embarked upon.

He said: “The flows of surface water are being monitored by (Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency) NIHSA while alerts will continue to be issued.

“Urban/flash floods (i.e. overflow due to sustained rainfall) in the urban cities or semi urban areas can be reduced with effective and adequate drainage systems. People must not use this facility as refuse bins which will block and render the facility useless with the probability of flooding heightened when it rains.

“People in the riverine areas must not erect residential structures on the flood plains as these areas are an extension of the river space. Unfortunately, people have refused to yield to advice.”

It remains to been seen whether Nigerians would take a cue and fully take advantage of the early warning to stay safe from flooding.

Reported by Anayo Ezugwu

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