The 2022 Flooding in Nigeria

The 2022 Nigeria floods have affected most of the country, displacing over 1.4 million people, killing over 600, and injuring more than 2,400. While Nigeria typically experiences seasonal flooding, the floods were the worst in the country since the 2012 floods, as of October, over 200,000 homes have been completely or partially destroyed by the floods. On 7 October, a boat carrying people fleeing the floods capsized on the Niger River, causing 76 deaths.

It is a tragedy with a complex plot with themes of displacement, hunger, and scarcity. In it are sub-themes of death, negligence, and fecklessness—every victim with his own story, and every community their tales and narratives detailing their plight. Citizens in affected areas live in uncertainty, despair, and fear, while a few struggle to hope and display love and compassion amid adversity.

According to reports, about 603 people have died, and more than 1.3 million have been displaced, while over 108,393 hectares of farmlands have been destroyed across the country. Some flood-affected states include Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Adamawa, Jigawa, Benue, and Borno.?This year’s flood is believed to be the worst that Nigeria has experienced in decades, as it has created humanitarian crises and compounded economic challenges in the affected areas. Some communities are?inaccessible and cut off from goods and services. In September, Rann and Damasak local government areas in Borno State, host areas of many Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), could only be accessed by helicopter, and commuters along Lokoja-Abuja Road were left stranded because of the flood. The flood also resulted in a major tragedy in Anambra State, where people had to rely on boats as major roads had been destroyed.

Media report (quoting national authorities), as of 18 October, 603 fatalities, over 2,400 injured, nearly 1,303,000 displaced people and a total of more than 2,504,000 affected people across the Country. In particular, the Bayelsa State is the worst affected, with around 700,000 either displaced or affected people. In addition, same sources also report around 203,400 damaged houses, of which over 82,000 fully damaged or destroyed. (ECHO, 18 Oct 2022)

Bayelsa appears to be one of the worst affected states in the year’s flood, as about seven out of the eight local government areas in the state are submerged in water,?300 communities and villages have been totally or partially submerged in water, 700,000 persons have been displaced or affected. The two major entry points into the state by road from Delta and Rivers States are impassable as water has washed off most parts of the road.?Essential goods and services cannot come into the state, creating economic and human security crises. Prices of goods and services have skyrocketed. Fuel price ranges from 550 to 750 naira in Yenagoa, the state capital, and even higher in the hinterlands.

Footages of the lived experiences of people across the state are pathetic. We have seen people cooking and living on the water; some sleep on the road for lack of shelter, and others surrender to fate and insist on living in flooded houses despite the danger. When I visited some impacted areas some days ago, I saw misery robed in human souls. I saw a people weaned of joy and peace as they lamented their ordeal and current predicament. Every visitor is seen as an emissary of hope who must carry their messages to the government and other development stakeholders. Their voices are a?refrain of monotonous groans of hope.

CAUSES:

The Nigerian government has blamed the floods of 2022 on unusually heavy rains and climate change.[4] United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria Matthias Schmale said that the flooding could be largely explained by climate change.[5] Climate change in Nigeria has been responsible for flooding, droughts, decreased air quality and the loss of habitat.

Flooding was exacerbated on 13 September with the annual release of water from the Lagdo Dam in neighbouring Cameroon. Excess water released from the dam cascades down River Benue and its tributaries, flooding communities in the states of Kogi, Benue as well as other states in the northeast. When Lagdo Dam was constructed in 1982, there was an agreement by Nigerian authorities to build a second, twin dam in Adamawa State to contain the overflows. Known as the Dasin Hausa Dam project, it was to be situated in Dasin Village of the Fufore local government area, but was never built by the Nigerian government.

Nigerian Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq said that "there was enough warning and information about the 2022 flood" and placed blame on the inaction of local governments, states, and communities.

IMPACTS:

·???????Adamawa State - In late August, severe flooding in?Adamawa State?caused 10 fatalities and damaged dozens of homes;

·???????Anambra State - On 7 October 2022, 76 people drowned after an overloaded boat fleeing the flood capsized.[3] The overflow of River Niger and downpour fuelled the rise of the water level. Riverine communities in the state have been submerged by the ravaging flood.

The three-storey Madonna Catholic Church in Iyiowa, Anambra West collapsed due to flooding on 9 October;

·???????Jigawa State - Floods struck Jigawa State from August to September, where at least 92 people died;

·???????Kogi State - Lokoja, situated at the confluence of the Benue and Niger rivers, is among the worst-affected areas of the flooding;

·???????Niger State - In Mariga, Niger State, over 1,500 corpses were washed away from a cemetery.[17] Officials said that 650 of the bodies were found and were reburied;

·???????Yobe State - Severe flooding struck Yobe State in July and killed four people. (Wikipedia)

It defeats every form of logic why governments have demonstrated apathy to the issue of flooding. It is saddening that a decade after the devastating impact of the 2012 flood, the government is still lethargic in the search for a sustainable solution to a national and security crisis of this dimension. This ongoing tragedy dramatizes the sustained culture of misgovernance in Nigeria and our leaders’ fecklessness in addressing national challenges.

This year’s flood should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers and government at all levels to reframe their security management strategies.

There is a need to retool the nation’s national disaster policies to focus on a preventive and actionable approach in response to national emergencies and crises. As politicians mount different rostrums around the country soliciting votes, we must put the issues of human security, environmental crisis, and the ongoing flood tragedy on the front burner. There is no better time for advocacy on issues that affect ordinary citizens than now.