Recently, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) predicted that several cities in Nigeria could sink as a result of flooding if proper measures were not taken. In this report, Chika Okeke, Anayo Onukwugha, Port Harcourt, Salisu Ibrahim, Kano, George Okojie, Lagos, Kola Niyi-Eke, Asaba, Onyekaozulu Ofoma, Abakaliki, Matthias Nwogu, Umuahia, David-Chyddy Eleke, Awka, Bernard Tolani Dada, Uyo examine the proactive measures taken by the agency and some of the affected states to avert possible loss of lives and properties.
In recent times, the coastal areas had been worst hit by flooding, a situation that led to massive loss of lives and property worth millions of naira. In its newest alert, NIMET advised the affected states to clear their drainages and waterways to minimize the impact of flood.
The states likely to be affected by flood between August and October are Lagos, Ogun, Delta, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Katsina and Jigawa.
In a chat with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, the Acting Director General of NIMET, Mrs Julie Ukeje informed that the agency had constantly updated their publications adding that Nigeria may experience serious problem due to flood.
“The activities that we are carrying out to ensure that the public is well informed and alerted about flooding is that we are constantly reviewing and updating our publications. For the ones that were usually issued monthly, we are now trying to change the pattern and from what we are seeing, we will have real problem because they are all indicative that the soil in the entire country is very moist.
“We have a particular product called Drought Monitoring Bulletin and in this product, we will show the pattern of the rainfall from the month in question and then it now goes back to three to six months and even one year and all those cumulative patterns in the months are all indicative that the soil is very moist which means that possible rainfall will result to flood.
Ukeje who also doubles as the Director of Applied Meteorological Services stated that the only scientific approach to forestall flooding was done through ‘Lead Time Knowledge’, adding that negative environmental practices leads to flooding.
Disturbed by this prediction, Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi swopped into action to avert the coming calamity. The governor set up a Flood Management Committee, headed by a renowned University lecturer, Professor Winston Bell-Gam.
Perhaps, Amaechi acted based on the fact the Port Harcourt has stretched far beyond environmentally acceptable limits, by its ever bloating population explosion as well as its attendant pressure on city dwellers to build on every available piece of land, for habitation and business, sometimes even across existing drainages, incessant flooding has for a long while posed a major challenge to city planners and successive governments alike.
Members of the committee included Dr. T.K.S Abam, Chief Davies Ibiamu-Ikanya, Surveyor Gaius Assor, Dr. Ipalibo Harry, Engr. Howard Ikiriko and Mr. Godstime Orlukwu while Barrister Rufus Godwins is the secretary.
The Bell-Gam led committee has continued to carry out periodic clean up of creeks, canals, and drainages in the Port Harcourt as part of measures to rid the state capital and its environs of flood.
Speaking to newsmen recently, the Committee Chairman Bell-Gam, said the state has a drainage master-plan, which is systematically being followed, adding that particular attention is paid on how to channel floods into the canals.
He disclosed that the committee has set up a website for easy accessibility and contact to enable it deal with flood wherever it occurs.
He called on Port Harcourt residents and business operators around the canals to imbibe good sanitary habits and desist from indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the canals.?
Bell-Gam also urged the people to desist from dumping waste on the canals and drainages to avoid blockage, noting that to properly tackle the challenges of flooding, residents, organised private sector and corporate organisations operating in the state should complement efforts of the government.
According to the state Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Nyema Weli, causes of flooding, such as used sachets found their ways into the water ways thereby blocking the drainage; adding these blockages results in flooding experienced in some part of the state.
Weli noted the present administration would embark on vigorous enlightenment programme to educate residents on their role on how to keep their environment clean.
The authorities of Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor local government area of the state have also not relented in their efforts at ensuring that drainages in their respective local government area are always free from debris that could cause blockage of such drainages.
In the same vein, the Kano State government through the Urban and Physical Development Agency (KNUPDA) and the Ministry of Water Resources has braced up efforts to nip in the bud the possible surge of flooding in the state.
On the part of KNUPDA, the agency saddled with the responsibility of the metropolitan planning, its Managing Director, Alhaji Isiyaku Mukthar Kura has warned roadside hawkers to remove all illegal structures placed without certifications or face the wrath of the government.
Already, he said the agency has earmarked on the rehabilitation of 11 state roads to ease the anticipated problem and enhance the beautification of the state capital.
The managing director also said that there are major plans in all the 44 local government areas to provide the headquarters of the councils with befitting double lane roads to avoid possible flood in the rural areas.
Alhaji Kura further cautioned residents in the metropolis to desist from rampant refuse disposal on drainages to avoid flooding.
He therefore warned those with illegal bill-boards on major roads to remove them to give way for easy flow of rain water and the beautification program embarked upon by the state government.
On the other hand, the state commissioner for Water Resources, Dr. Adamu Yunusa Dangwani assured that the state government has initiated the maximum utilisation of all the available dams in the state to avoid the overflow of the dams.
He said there was no reported case of likely dam collapse so far, but allayed the fears of the general public that in the event of dam failure due to heavy rainfall, appropriate measures have been put in place by the government to manage the surging water.
In a related development, the Lagos State government said it has put measures in place to curtail effects of flooding in the state.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY, the Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello who confirmed that heavy rainfall will be witnessed in the next few weeks in the state, assured that the government had since embarked on expansion of drainage channels and canals to tackle the challenge of flooding.
Bello explained that that was why the state government was disturbed by the blockage of the Oko-Oba canals and other drainage channels in Orile/Agege areas where the impact of the last rainfall was badly felt.?
He said Oko-Oba canal was developed in 1989 to suit the capacity of residents within the area, explaining that population increase and the impact of climate change were among the factors that created the challenges of flooding witnessed in the area during the last heavy rainfall in the state.
He said the government has also commenced the rehabilitation of strategic drainage channels across the state to increase the capacity to drain storm water across the state.
The commissioner who lamented that the manholes the government installed on the Lagos –Abeokuta expressway is now too small to contain the amount of water coming from Oko-Oba, appealled to the federal government to quickly put bigger manholes to accommodate the amount of water coming from the channel.?
He also appealed to residents to complement the efforts of the government to cleaning their drainage channels and gutters, saying, it is a civic responsibility they must not be told before they perform it.?
The General Manager of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA), Dr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, said the government was already constructing two more camps to complement the existing Agbowa Relief Camp, near Ikorodu, which accommodated 1,100 residents displaced by flood in the Ajegunle-Ikorodu axis of Lagos in August, 2010.
Similarly, the Delta State government had on March 27, 2012 alerted residents to brace up for the 236 days of persistent rainfall this year. It warned that the rains would come with rainstorms that could uproot trees, roof tops, cables and others.
LEADERSHIP SUNDAY gathered that the failure to complete various drainage projects in the state has informed the perennial flooding with hue and cry of deaths recorded at all times.
However, Delta State Governor, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan has directed the construction company handling the drainage system in Asaba to work day and night and complete work within the next two weeks.
Dr. Uduaghan who gave the directive while inspecting the progress of work on the drainage system reiterated his determination to check flooding and keep Asaba dry.
He therefore appealed to residents in Asaba to bear with the government as it was making effort to complete work on schedule.
Across the 25 local council areas of the state, the situation of deplorable roads including flood menace hitherto remain a nightmare with empty promises from the state government.
Mr. Funkekeme Solomon, the State Commissioner for Works in a chat with LEADERSHIP SUNDAY had admitted lapses occasioned by flood menace, adding that government was ready to tackle the problems.
For many residents of Ebonyi State, the recent warning or prediction of imminent flood disaster in some states of the federation, by NIMET may just be another wake up call for them to brace up for what has become a perennial menace? in some communities and even Abakaliki. In the national weather alert, Ebonyi was 15th in the states that will likely face the disaster this year.
However, the good news, particularly for residents of Abakaliki, is that long before the alert, the federal government in conjunction with the World Bank had awarded contract for the concrete channelling of Iyiokwu and Iyiudele rivers. The two rivers that criss-crosses the state capital and have predisposed the city to annual flooding before now.
But while Abakaliki, the state capital may be relatively safe, the rural communities are still left at the mercies of vagaries of nature, with respect to flooding. Only last week, there were flood disasters at Oferekpe and Odomowo communities in Ikwo local government area as well as at Umunaga in Uburu, Ohaozara local government area. The two separate disasters swept away homes and farmlands and destroyed property worth millions of naira.?
The Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency, SEMA, Elder Igboke Umunna who confirmed the development said the Uburu disaster which was first reported to the agency affected 305 victims. He said that his agency had conducted assessment of the disaster and have prepared a report which will be forwarded to the State Governor for necessary action. He said that arrangement was being made to assess that of Ikwo disaster.
On his part, the State Commissioner for Environment, Dr. Paul Okorie stated that flooding is a big issue in the state.
“We have been carrying out enlightenment campaigns to educate the residents on how to dispose of refuse. We have been partnering with the Directorate of Attitudinal Change and Ministry of Information to enlighten people on the need to dispose their refuse properly without dumping it in the road side drains. We have been doing that because these are the things that precipitate flooding; this idea of people putting everything they get to the refuse, you know solid waste into the drains,” said.??
The Abia State Commissioner for Works, Chief Kinsley?? Mgbeahuru said the closure of the manhole at Ohanku by Akoli road was deliberate and strategic. He said that when they saw that the flood was too much they stopped the asphalting and began to clean up the surface drainage.
“We latter discovered that the real problem was the manhole that connects to the central drainage system and that if we opened it as we did in Ibadan street, the whole area would be flooded, so we blocked the manhole at Akoli junction.”
According to him, what the contractor is doing now is to clean up the drainage so that when the manhole is opened the flood water will flow freely down the central drainage system.
He appealed to the residents to be patient as no construction work would be done on the road during the rain and warned against any unauthorized structures that might destroy their buildings.
Anambra State seems to be one of the states in the federation that is not prone to flood, but this however does not mean that there have not been cases of flooding in the state. But compared to the magnitude in which it happens in other states, Anambra can be counted as lucky.
That notwithstanding, some communities in the state, have witnessed pockets of flooding in the past few years, and following the recent forecast of heavy rainfall in some states of the federation, the state government seemed to have begun on time to check whatever could lead to flood disaster in some communities.
The State governor, Mr Peter Obi has been making efforts in checking flood in the state. Recently, Obi obtained from the federal government permission to construct a part of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway which has become a major flooding area in Awka.
And in Akwa Ibom State, the Commissioner for Environment, Enobong Uwah said since the unfortunate calamity of Ibeno and environs in 2010, government has step up its disaster management machinery and is adequately prepared to protect its citizens against possible occurrence of extreme climatic conditions.
According to Enobong Uwah, apart from informing fishermen along the coastlines and the people living in the riverine areas to relocate to upland areas in the event of Ocean surge, the state government is also encouraging coastal re-vegetation.
He also said that the state government recently employed over 3000 youths under the city environmental clean-up initiatives and also declared war on indiscriminate dumping of refuse in the all drainage across the 31 local government areas of the state.
Other erosion control measures put in place by the state government according to Umanah are the construction of Uruan and Nwaneba canals which he said would soon be completed.