FLOODGATE OPENS ON NIGERIANS: THOUSANDS TURNS REFUGEE.

In time past Nigeria has been hailed as one nation among few with little or no evidence of natural disaster. We have always been on the know about environmental hazards in developed and developing countries of the world, some caused by human activities while others are natural occurrence as perceived by the people. One particular incidence still fresh-up in our minds are the Japan tsunami and the Haiti earthquake.

To a greater extent our meteorological team are nearly flawless these days, most times they are on point compared to years back, when a weather forecaster will inform the people that there will be sunshine in different cities around the country and eventually people who adhere to it are swept aside by rain. What they  report are always the opposite. This season they got it all right in predicting the intensity of the rainfall and advised the people and the Federal Government on what to expect, there reports was treated with levity, levity on the part of the people and on the part of the government, hence, tragedy on human life’s, displacement of people, making men and women homeless, refugees in there own country.
In government defense, they ask the people residing in lowland areas to relocate temporarily to another location, most likely, the upland areas pending the period when the rain stops. But, the question is, who’s house are they relocating to? Who is going to accommodate them, most especially those with families? There were no proper arrangement in place for these group of people to move, there was no way they could move without inconveniencing other people and since there was no provision for such movement, it would have been right if proper drainage system was constructed in such areas for easy passage of the excess water pronto, when the scan was made.

Most of the flooding ever recorded in Nigeria has always been the act of human and not necessarily the act of nature. Individuals who build are advised not to build on drainage path, water ways or on water, but they go against this instruction and insist on building on those paths, and water must always look for a safe passage, however, the Federal and State Government must ensure that there are stringent penalty awaiting any contractor, who will construct roads without proper drainage system where water will be channelled for easy passage and on the other hand, ensure that the monitoring and evaluation team of Environmental Protection Agencies are doing there jobs. Ensure prompt evacuation of refuse dumps to prevent the people who have developed the habit of using refuse dump to block drainage system.

The response of our emergency agencies in Nigeria are so poor compared to world global practices. It took National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) more than a week to get to the affected victims in Adamawa State, causing additional loss of life and damage of properties.

This year recorded the highest flood ever in the history of Nigeria. A good number of State was affected, Anambra, Kogi, Lagos, Adamawa, Taraba, Oyo state etc., just to mention a few and over 15000 life’s has been lost, most are still uncounted for, and thousands turns refugees.

Nigeria may one day experience earthquake if the rate of oil exploration, land drilling, rock blasting and the use of dynamite on land is not checked. This cannot be one among the transformation agenda and fresh air the government of President Goodluck Jonathan has promised Nigerians.