Recurring flood disasters: A national security threat

Guest Columnist By Ussiju Medaner

My intention this weak is to have a follow-up to the responses to the Borno state flood disaster that struck a week ago; picking out and analysing the elements of the responses, including highlighting what is still missing and suggesting a pathway for improving the effectiveness of the responses across board. But I will first take a detour to highlight a terrible side effect of the governorship election that took place in Edo state over the last weekend.
As I sat watching events unfolding during the collation of the Edo state governorship election results, I became more scared of the many challenges we face as a country. Eventually, nothing has been happening to us that is not self-inflicted. The ENDSARS inflicted huge blow on our national sanity, that till now, we are not fully recovered from. Some weeks ago, we came again with another one: the ‘ENDBADGOVERNANCE’ protest that nearly crippled the country again and sowed terrible seed of unpatriotism in a huge population of youths and children who did not even understand what they were complaining about, but have learnt they could profit from destroying public infrastructure and to arbitrarily and unthoughtfully rise against constituted authority. What a time bomb!
The country already is volatile; it appears as if we are sitting on a keg of gunpowder already. Yet, we saw two executive governors who should know better, exhibited their personal interests and an unbridled desperacy to win the election for their party; by announcing unverified results that showed their party was winning the election. We all know the implications of that action on the security of the state and the country at large. When the authentic result is eventually released and differs, they literally have sown the seed of mistrust, and grounds for an uproar that might consume the state, and even spread beyond. Now, they have lost; we do not know if we have escaped the implications of the lies they told by using the public position they occupy to discredit the process and sow doubt in the fairness of the process. That was exactly what Donald Trump did in 2020 that led to the historical attack on the Capitol. America never can recover from that again.
Now, to the business of the day; I think as bad as the event in Borno state was, it has revealed something precious about Nigeria and Nigerians. We are our brothers’ keepers. The magnitude and consistency of the aid and support coming from other parts of the country to soften the pains of the affected individuals and communities have been overwhelmingly appreciative. The concerns across party boundaries, and across religious and regional boundaries have shown that we would be there for ourselves in times of our respective needs. But, now wouldn’t be the time to rest on our oars; there is still much to be done to restore normalcy to the lives and livelihoods of all the affected persons and communities, if possible.
The flooding is becoming one too many across the country; and the consequences, in terms of human losses, property destruction and the truncation of livelihoods are beyond the level we can afford to overlook as a nation. The Office of the National Security Adviser must recognise flood disasters in the country – with the frequency at which they seasonally occur – as a top national security concern and must prioritise strategies to combat them to the fullest.
Reportedly, about one million people are affected by the flood, and above four hundred thousand persons displaced. How true is this? Do we have factual records of the victims and displaced persons, including those currently at the various IDP camps, or is it a case of arbitrarily placing the victims in different temporary camps or locations and then, working with hypothetical figures to process various aid and responses which require reasonable if not factual calculations. It is a fact that our responses would be defective from the outset if we lack a working record of the people we are to reach out to. We should know these people by all prescribed demographics and their real identities. Do we know how many children are in those camps? How many women, how many pregnant women are in the various camps? How many children of school age are there? How many sick people or those with pre-existing health challenges are there? All these records and others are the basic tools for planning effective responses in such situations. Do we have them?
So many donations have come from all angles into the state, giving hope to all concerned that relief has come on a scale capable of restoring hope to all the affected persons, families and communities. The governor’s talk of setting up a committee to design a module for distributing the donations however, would constitute concern for many of us, who have been worried overtime about the issue of accountability of funds and donations for the cause. How do we follow disbursing of the fund? How do we guarantee that the money would reach the people for all the intended purposes? How do we ensure that corruption does not overturn the objectives of the donations and aid. How are we sure, it would not be all games as usual?
We have as well seen reports of the state government dishing out cash donations of N10,000 to each affected household. While, such handouts would be necessary, it cannot substitute for the response that is actually needed overall. There have been arguments that palliative, in the form that we know it in Nigerian, is never going to be a working and effective solution to the root problems people are facing. That money, in most cases, wouldn’t last two days with some household, and the government would not come back in another 60 days to give another, while priding its effort at having reached out to the people in thousands if not millions. What the people need are sustainable interventions, rebuilding of infrastructure, direct investments that support return to their normal lives, and tangible direct and indirect assistance to resuscitate their lost vocational, businesses and normal life.
Importantly, we need to concentrate earnestly on the health needs of the displaced, most especially, those in the camps. There are news of damaged septic tanks around and news of flooded graveyards. These are enough bases for anticipation of major health challenges. There are potential risks of rapid spread of infectious diseases. This we must respond to, as with the effectiveness it so demands. It is expected that makeshift medical responses and arrangements should be made to complement all existing and unaffected ones; and this should be sustainable, until when it is considered safe for all the camps to be closed and all the displaced people returned to their respective homes and livelihoods.
We must also note that there are children of school age that have had their education hampered by the sudden damage done to their parents due to the flood incident. While these children remain at the IDP camps, there should be an arrangement to ensure that their education continues. The necessary agencies should make arrangements for temporary classrooms, teachers and materials within the camps for as long as it is opened. This would also serve to ease the tension of boredom and worries created by the displacement as the children would be gainfully engaged.
This is not a child play. The flood, like other challenges facing Nigeria, is a serious security problem, as I have stated previously and one we must tackle with absolute seriousness. It is not just about the latest Borno flood, but a problem that cuts across the country. Currently, other states are facing serious threats and incidents of flooding. As at last week, several communities were submerged due to a nonstop rain phenomenon in Yenagoa, just like many other flash points across the country. Farmlands are being ravaged and destroyed; Nigerians are struggling with survival across many states because of floods. Hence, we must recognise and classify these disasters as a national security challenge and so, respond to them accordingly.
Like I submitted in my article last week, we must learn from these flood incidents. The current ones must provide us the basis to get ready for all future occurrences. As long as it is practically impossible to rule out, completely, the potential exposure to these disasters, we must be earnestly proactive to prevent any and all future occurrences that may wreck havoc on us. It is time we set up systems to develop strong inland flood retention and control capacity across all the corridors where we are exposed to the annual cycles of potential floods. The structures of all existing dams should be reviewed to accommodate safety measures and controls in case of imminent breakages as we have witnessed; flood pathways, resilient boulders installations and other features to safeguard the immediate communities in case of floods are to be promptly attended to. These however would require us to carry out a substantial accident and hazard analysis of all the infrastructure.
We must realise, as a people, that it is not enough that we wait again and again for the next incident before we react. It is not going to be accepted anymore, seeing our leaders always coming out publicly with a one minute of silence for the dead, dishing out aid and professing remorse when they ought to have done the right thing to prevent and mitigate such disasters as much as possible in the first place. At this point however, we must find a lasting solution to this and other insecurity and humanitarian challenges facing our country and people. It is about time all the arms of the government take it seriously. Perhaps, a declaration of state of emergency would provide the basis for the proactive responses that are needed. The National Assembly must have to review all the legislations relating to the safety of the nation’s dams and other related infrastructure.

GOD BLESS THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA