MARCEL MBAMALUThe Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Ahmed Mustapha Habib, on Saturday, July 15 held a high-level media capacity building workshop for journalists. The workshop is part of government’s rare proactive steps to forestall the effects of natural disasters in Nigeria, particularly floods. In February 2023, weather forecasts showed that 178 local governments in 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were in the line of serious floods billed to set off in April 2023.
READ ALSO: Floods: NEMA Harps On Preparation, Seeks State Governors’ Cooperation
Air and road transport, bridges, farmlands, human health, households, food security, livestock and sundry property are areas predicted to be severely affected by the floods. Already, the floods have begun in all the regions of Nigeria. Anambra, Ogun, Lagos, Niger, Delta, Gombe States, and the FCT are already being bathed in deadly floods as of late May. Early in July, at least 166 houses were submerged by Floods in the FCT.
The steps by NEMA are apparently a result of important lessons learnt from the deadly floods that have ravaged Nigeria over the past decade. According to the Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, the June to November 2022 floods killed over 600 people and displaced at least 1.4 million people, with over 2,400 human injuries. In Nasarawa State alone, rice farms worth $15 million were submerged. More than 82,035 houses were damaged, while 332,327 hectares of land were affected, leading to an estimated economic loss of $9.12bn (N4.2 trillion). That’s using the then official exchange rate of N460 to the dollar. The Minister, Sadiya Farouq, said the floods affected the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. The damage to river, irrigation, roads and electricity was expected to hover between $0.952 to 1.724bn. This amount is more than twice the N240 million (about $6million) budgeted for road construction in Nigeria’s 2022 budget. Forecasts have painted even gloomier pictures for 2023.
Are the Floods Controllable?
Flood-prone countries such as Japan, China, Pakistan, and India have strategic plans and continual infrastructure development to address floods. Japan uses underground spaces beneath ring roads along streets to hold flood water. The country has similar reservoirs to hold flood water from rivers. As of 2021, Japan had 28 such reservoirs, holding about 2.56 million m3 of water. China channels flood water to stream areas that can take them without overflowing. The country has been undertaking an ambitious construction plan for flood control since 1955.
The federal government (FG) of Nigeria in 2002 made it clear that, according to extant laws, its duty in national emergencies is to “step in to directly address national-level emergencies and that local government councils and the states are the first responders in all situations”. This means that states are expected to stop calling on the federal authorities “to respond to all outbreaks of natural disaster”. While making the above explications, Garba Shehu, media aide to former President Buhari, remarked that each of the three tiers, the local government, the state government, and the federal government has a sizeable monthly budget for natural emergencies.
Hear him: “Under the prevailing revenue allocation formula, 2.32 percent of derivation funds is set aside for ecology and disaster management. Of this amount, the 36 states and the FCT get 0.72 percent, the 774 local governments get 0.6 percent, adding to 1.32 percent, leaving a balance of one percent to the government of the federation. By the law of land, NEMA takes 20 percent of the amount allocated to the Federal Government. The Northeast Development Commission, NEDC collects 10 percent, the National Agricultural Land Development Authority, NALDA 10 percent, and the National Agency for the Great Green Wall, GGW 0.5 percent, leaving 0.55 of the one percent to the government at the centre for ecological protection and disaster management.”
Derivation fund refers to the percentage of the amount that government gives back to any state where natural resources is extracted. Section 162(2) of the 1999 Constitution, for instance, approves 13% derivation to oil producing states in Nigeria. In 2022, the Minister of Finance and National Budget, Zainab Ahmed, revealed than in seven years, the federal government disbursed N1.98 trillion to nine oil producing states. Judging from the comments of Garba Shehu above, the three triers of government had about N20 billion set aside for things like flood control.
In 2021, oil producing states (Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Imo, Lagos, Rivers and Ondo) shared N460.60 billion as 13% derivation from the federation accounts. Delta alone got N141.93 billion. In 2022, eight states received N144.31 billion. These are also the areas with some of the worst cases of flood incidents. By implication, somebody is not using the ecological funds well. Table 1 shows the 2021 derivation fund allocations to the other eight states.
Table 1: Sharing of 13% derivation fund
| States | Allocation in Billion |
| Bayelsa | N87.22 |
| Rivers | N83.12 |
| Edo | N17.12 |
| Ondo | 11.50 |
| Imo | N9.98 |
| Abia | 4.78 |
| Lagos | 3.78 |
The ecological funds misappropriation must have been the reason that the director general of NEMA was in attendance at a conference of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum recently where he called on the governors to prepare for the impending 2023 floods through proactive measures. Garba Shehu has similarly reminded state governors to account for the stupendous resources ear-marked for flood control. While the 2022 floods was taking their toll, Mr Shehu, in a press release noted: “It is not clear why some of the state governments in question are not already drawing upon those funds to tackle the current emergency, and the general population is misguidedly calling on the federal government to intervene in all situations. If those moneys are, for whatever reason, no longer available, the affected states and local councils must immediately contact the relevant authorities to explain what has happened with those funds.”
So far, the subnational governments have engaged in mere rhetoric of always ordering people to leave flood prone areas. Many of such orders are always held in breach, for example in Gombe, where the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) merely begged citizens to stop blocking water channels with waste. Floods began the usual damage in Bajoga, Funakaye LGA, Gombe State as a result of blocked water channels. In an incident on May 14, over 40 houses were affected, with at least 21 injuries.
To be proactive, the relevant authorities must go beyond rhetoric in responding to floods every year, especially given that such floods are predicted. It will also mean that Nigeria will do more than condoling with flood victims, who wait endlessly for illusory government response. To guide the federal, state and local governments, activist have suggested the dredging of River Nigeria, and adjoining rivers such as Warri River as well as constructing dams to cushion the effects of waters coming from Cameroun every year when that country’s dams overflow or release excess waters.
Dr Mbamalu is a veteran Journalist, Editor and Publisher, Prime Business Africa.
Email into his box marcelmbamalu2@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @marcelmbamalu
Dr. Marcel Mbamalu is a communication scholar, journalist and entrepreneur. He holds a Ph.D in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and is the Chief Executive Officer Newstide Publications, the publishers of Prime Business Africa.
A seasoned journalist, he horned his journalism skills at The Guardian Newspaper, rising to the position of News Editor at the flagship of the Nigerian press. He has garnered multidisciplinary experience in marketing communication, public relations and media research, helping clients to deliver bespoke campaigns within Nigeria and across Africa.
He has built an expansive network in the media and has served as a media trainer for World Health Organisation (WHO) at various times in Northeast Nigeria. He has attended numerous media trainings, including the Bloomberg Financial Journalism Training and Reuters/AfDB training on Effective Coverage of Infrastructural Development of Africa.
A versatile media expert, he won the Jefferson Fellowship in 2023 as the sole Africa representative on the program. Dr Mbamalu was part of a global media team that covered the 2020 United State’s Presidential election. As Africa's sole representative in the 2023 Jefferson Fellowships, Dr Mbamalu was selected to tour the United States and Asia (Japan and Hong Kong) as part of a 12-man global team of journalists on a travel grant to report on inclusion, income gaps and migration issues between the US and Asia.
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