•Govts should heed the warnings in the interest of all
The world has always lived with the ravages of nature like earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, flooding and other natural disasters. The incidents have very huge effects on humanity and the environment, and invariably involves the socio-economic lives of citizens even beyond the affected zones. Human lives are often lost, properties destroyed and environments devastated.
The impact of climate change across the world has been documented in ways that are as realistically scary as they have been either nominated for or even won the prestigious Nobel Peace prizes. The ones won Wangari Maathai of Kenya and former United States Vice President, Al gore, in 2007, readily come to mind.
The effects of global warming on the human environment is so huge that both global agencies and most governments have been investing in measures not just to control the impact across the globe but for sustainable efforts to save human lives, preserve natural habitats and the environment.
Individual countries take measures and invest in research and awareness creation to control the consequences of climate change and global warming. Even though researches have shown that the world’s most industrialised nations contribute a greater percentage of the effects of global warming in the world, developing countries equally have their fair share.
In Nigeria, environmental pollution is making havoc. especially in the Niger Delta. Oil exploration, exploitation, deforestation, wild fires, erosion and flooding have cost lives and properties, including food insecurity in the last few years in the country. Normally, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) issues warnings to the citizens about impending weather-induced alterations in the environment. But more often than not, those warnings are obeyed in the breach.
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For 2025, the prognosis for the impending rainy season seems grim and scary. The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, has warned that about 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states would experience severe flooding that would devastate about 1,249 communities across the 30 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, between April and November.
According to reports, some state governments have begun implementing preventive measures through public awareness campaigns, dredging water channels and relocating vulnerable communities from river banks and flood plains.
We commend the states that are taking valid steps to prevent the impact of the impending flooding. We however equally know that there are cynics in the system who sadly love the ‘gains’ of emergency management opportunities because of the gains of procurement. The damage of flooding on food security and human lives must not be underrated.
We equally know that urban Nigeria has a record of poor environmental hygiene. This continues to impact lives in various ways as the sanitary officers that ought to enforce the positive habits seem to be a thing of the past, especially during the colonial era. With population explosion and increased rural-urban migration, we witness the effects of lack of environmental consciousness. Even Lagos, with its waste management agencies and street sweepers cleaning drainages periodically, citizen-compliance is too low given the poor waste disposal attitudes. The gutters are almost always filled with non-bio-degradable junks like plastics. This cannot aid water flow.
Conversely though, states like Akwa Ibom and Cross River seem to be exceptions with their level of dedication and adherence to environmental cleanliness. These two model states should be emulated by other states in the country by adopting the preventive measures being advocated by the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency. There are no rooms for negligence or laxity. A lot is at stake if these measures are ignored by the states on the red alert information.
Reports and records show that ignoring most of the early warnings in the past had severe consequences on human and material resources. Most farmlands with almost due-to be-harvested crops had been destroyed by the floods and lives lost.
While we believe that nature can be unkind sometimes, the pristine Nigerian society was more conscious of the preservation of the environment than the modern people.
Governments must be very proactive by making sure that its agencies are actively taking steps to manage the impending weather effects. As the popular saying goes, ‘prevention is better than cure’. Nowhere else needs this more than those in the water sector. The dams must be seen to be optimally functional, including those linked to bordering countries like Cameroun, niger and Chad.