''Prevention is better than cure" but Nigeria left the group chat.

The Nigerian government is not consistent with a lot of things, but one thing I think they seem to be very consistent with is being reactive instead of proactive. Until everything gets out of hand, with many lives lost and properties destroyed, before the Nigerian government starts to run upandan. Sadly, this is the same problem we are facing with the current flood disaster.

Historically, Nigeria has been more focused on post-disaster flood response than control.

Considering the nation's past flood disasters, especially the last major one being the 2012 floods, one would assume that proper measures would be put in place to mitigate a reoccurrence. Unfortunately, we were unprepared in 2012 and 10 years after, we are stillnnowhere prepared, in fact, the floods of 2022 have been the worst since the?2012 Nigeria floods.

The ravaging floods of 2022, which began in the early summer, have affected 34 out of the 36 states in Nigeria and displaced about 1.3 million people, while over 600 people have died with over 200,000 houses either partially or fully damaged and farmlands washed away.?

This further clearly indicates the low importance given to controlling and managing flooding in Nigeria. The Nigerian government clearly underestimates the immediate and long-term effects of the flood disaster, especially for the children.?

According to UNICEF’s Children's Climate Risk Index (CCRI), Nigeria is considered at 'extremely high risk' of the impacts of climate change, ranking second out of 163 countries. Children in 'extremely high risk' countries face a deadly combination of exposure to multiple climate and environmental shocks combined with high levels of underlying child vulnerability, due to inadequate essential services, such as water and sanitation, healthcare, and education.

Let's talk a little about children's education in times of disasters.

Schools play a vital role in every community, and they need to be well-secured and protected. Unfortunately, flooding disrupts the schooling of children and the delivery of education in many ways, no matter the severity of the flooding. Even in minor floods, parents are hesitant to send their children to school, let alone in dangerous flood waters.

Parents' loss of livelihood can result in extreme poverty, school dropouts, and malnutrition.

Dropping out of school may result in early marriages for the affected children, particularly the girls, trapping them in a vicious cycle of poverty.

This has a high chance of triggering violent conflict, and then the cycle continues.

As much as we "try" to control the current flooding, one of the sustainable measures to mitigate future occurrence is the integration of disaster risk reduction into the education curriculum.

Now, more than ever, Children need to be taught how to prepare, mitigate, prevent, respond to and recover from flood disasters. Both structural and non-structural measures need to be put in place to reduce the vulnerability of schools.

But wait, how do we request the integration of disaster risk reduction into the school curriculum from a Government that has no flood management policy?

I really hope there's a faster response and provision of relief materials for the victims of these floods. And maybe, just maybe, this will finally push the Nigerian government to put better and more effective disaster risk management measures in place, to avoid future occurrences. I really hope!

Until next time.

Yours in impact!