In the last two weeks, there has been a downpour of rainfall in the county. And the flooding effect is ravaging towns and villages, from the East through the West to the North, with varying degrees of devastation in its trail.

Until it rains, Nigerians never see the demerits of poor urban planning and absence/poor drainage. As a result, it’s a joint failure of uncaring citizens and corrupt and irresponsible public servants.

Besides, both the Nigerian government and citizens are indifferent the issue of climate change. Just like other aspects of the environment, we tend to believe it is a problem of the Western world.

Yet, the consequences are dire in Africa, much more than in the organized and developed nations of the world. Today, from Niger State and Taraba, Imo and Anambra, Delta, Bayelsa and Edo to Ondo, Ogun and Lagos, among other states, it has been a picture of shame, grief and helplessness.

From Ishawo Road in Ikorodu where citizens were shut in for three days due to flood which an informed resident attributed to the abandoned road construction commissioned in 2016 and abandoned by Lagos State Government. The state-wide impact of the flooding in Lagos, a coastal town, was predictable given the absence of planning, non-compliance with building regulations and total disregard for environmental factors. For years, the Olowu junction of Obafemi Awolowo Way, Ikeja has always been flooded whenever it rains heavily and has remained so for years despite being the major road to the seat of power, Alausa.

However, images from Niger and Ogun states were painful echoes of Ogunpa, the 1980 flood which claimed over 100 lives and destroyed millions of property in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The scenes at Magboro and other parts of Ifo Local Government Area, Denro-Isachi Road, Airport Estate, Discovery Estate, all in Ogun State are worrying signs of government neglect and citizen’s disregard for the demands of a planned, built environment. As you read this piece, residents of Airport Estate, close to Isheri area of Lagos, were forced to vacate their flooded homes. The unusual flood was blamed on the Ogun Dam. According to a Vanguard report, one Adegbola Babatunde of Discovery Estate, said: “The release from Ogun Dam has taken over the entire Discovery Estate, Riverview Wing of the Ogun Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC), Isheri, Lagos-Ogun border area.” Having visited one of the million-naira estates, it suffers from the recurring decimal of contempt for good planning, drainage and landscaping in Nigerian urban areas and city estates.

One Folake Kuti who spoke to Channels Television on the heavily flooded Denro-Isachi road, where residents had been compelled to use a make-shift (Pako) bridge across a canal and swampy stretch, said they have been living with the neglect for over ten years, and that all past governors, including the present, come there during campaigns and make promises. At Magboro, residents improvised canoes to cross the flooded area. And like typical Nigerians ravaged by scarcity mentality, people were even rushing to board the over-loaded canoes that were the only means of transport to work, including children going to school. Note that these are children that might not have seen a canoe before. Of course, most classrooms were scanty. At Obowo in Imo State, their only market was completely flooded, and that was not the first time, according to a female victim, just as thousands of Delta flood victims are now living in internally displaced persons camps (IDPs).

In Niger State, the story is as comprehensive as it is moving. A sad reminder that effects of climate change is here too. This is captured by a recent News Express online report. “The Director-General (DG), Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ahmed Inga, after a rapid assessment of the 2019 flood disaster, said at least, 18 people died while 41,959 others were displaced during flood disaster in Niger State. Inga said that the flood disaster affected 20 local government areas, 516 communities and submerged 152 communities; while 2,714 houses were destroyed and 41,959 persons were displaced.”

“Inga explained that the flood, which began in August, as a result of a localised high intensity rainfall accompanied by torrential winds, triggered massive run-off activities in streams, rivers and drainage in urban and rural areas.” The DG added that farmlands were destroyed as well as roads, bridges and culverts during the flood disaster, adding: “The flood killed five people in Ketso community, a child in Kontagora town and a seven-year-old Khadijat Aliyu; a father and his three sons lost their lives in Edati, three primary pupils in Gurara, three children in Yuna village of Borgu Local Government Area of the state.”

Besides the touching death of children and adults named in the report, the official’s language gave clear indication of the root cause of the disaster. Doubting Thomases of climate change should note Inga’s choice of words: High intensity rainfall, torrential winds, massive run-off activities in streams, rivers, etc.

In a recent article on floods, yours truly berated relevant agencies in charge of floods and erosions for not doing enough to contain or mitigate these menace despite humongous amounts from donor agencies and the Federal Government. Given our characteristic nonchalance, similar tragedies are likely to recur next rainy season. The moment the rains cease, life continues and it’s business as usual. More desperate tenants will go and rent the vacated estates, and at a higher cost too. But, do we expect better days ahead? Definitely not!

Although Nigeria was among the first 140 countries to endorse the Paris Agreement in December 2015, President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to assent to the Climate Change Bill, which has been passed by the the National Assembly. Ironically, the President, on March 28, 2017, signed the instrument of ratification of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, in Abuja, saying he was committed to climate action, at the Climate Action Summit and the United Nations’ General Assembly in September 2019. Yet, as at March 2019, Buhari had refused assent to the bill three times. Nigeria was also at the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakech, Morocco, in November 2016, when world leaders formally adopted the Action Proclamation, which recommitted parties to full implementation of the Paris agreement.

The Chairman, House Committee on Climate Change in the 7th Assembly, Samuel Onuigbo (PDP, Ikwuano/Umuahia North and South, House of Representatives) sponsored the Bill. He was recently appointed vice-president (Africa) of Global Legislators Organisation for a Balanced Environment (GLOBE), an international association of parliamentarians who sponsor bills and support policies that are geared towards sustainable development. Onuigbo averred: “This Climate Change Bill, when passed, will help Nigeria domesticate the international policy framework. It will equally provide an institutional and legal framework for climate change governance in the country, deliver appropriate policies and institutional structures to combat ecological and environmental problems in Nigeria.”

Notwithstanding that the Bill has not been signed, we have a Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Abuja, with a pay-off: Gateway to National Action on Climate Change. And that is not all: “As part of measures to mitigate negative effects of the climate change, as well as protect the environment, the Federal Government has set aside N2 billion of the Ecological Fund for planting of trees across the states in 2018,” credited to Minister of Environment Usman Jibril, who noted: “It was in recognition of global concerns, the reality of climate change in the country and the desire of the Federal Government to address the menace of deforestation and forest degradation, that a Presidential Initiative on Afforestation Programme for Economic and Environmental Sustainability was established.”

The following questions arise: If the Federal Government appreciates the import of the climate change to the extent of releasing a whopping N2 billion for planting of trees nationwide, why is he reluctant to sign the Bill without which the Paris Agreement cannot be domesticated?

With the existence of a Nigerian Erosion and Watershed Management Project set up specifically to manage gully erosion and land degradation and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, a parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Environment: Why do we need a “Presidential Initiative on Environmental Sustainability”? Meanwhile, now in the last quarter of 2019, no media reports of any nationwide tree-planting exercise yet, for which N2 billion was provided in 2018.

On a broader scale, let’s see why President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the Ministry of Environment during his first term in June 1999. “The Federal Ministry of Environment was established at the inception of the Civilian Administration to ensure effective coordination of all environmental matters, which hitherto were fragmented and resident in different line ministries. The creation was intended to ensure that environmental matters are adequately mainstreamed into all developmental activities. The protection of the environment is paramount to the achievement of the objectives of the country’s socio-economic reforms.”

The ministry has the mandate to advise the Federal Government on National Environmental Policies and priorities, conservation of natural resources and sustainable development and scientific and technological activities affecting the environment and natural resources.

Sad, the menace of ecological degradation has become another victim of multiple institutions assigned to one function, with little benefit to the populace.

•Nwafo, Consulting Editor, News Express and Environmental Analyst, can be reached on: chi_dafo@yahoo.com; +2348029334754.

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