Rethinking Flood Management in Nigeria: A Call for Integrated Approaches and Proactive Interventions
By Engr. Nura Idris Abdullahi
The issue of flood has become an annual recurring event in Nigeria. In each cycle of flood; lives, farmlands, houses, and source of livelihood of people are lost. Flood destroyed roads, there by cutting up cities and towns from assessing basic supplies of goods and services. As I am writing this piece, so many lives are lost; properties and farmlands destroyed, and town are cut off from basic supplies across various zones of Nigeria.
Flood management can be approached from either an integrated flood management where it integrates land and water resources development in a river basin (or sub-basins) within the context of integrated Water Resources management or from a traditional approach. As a country, our approach towards managing flood remain the same year-in year-out forgetting a very famous and wise saying “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Our approach has always been traditional method. Even at that, we hardly follow it up to the latter. In the traditional approach to flood management, there are about six fundamental interventions that, if comprehensively applied, would have prevented our current situation. These interventions include source control to reduce runoff through creation of permeable pavements and afforestation, as well as artificial recharge. Additionally, storing runoff in either wetlands, detention basins, or/and reservoirs can help prevent flooding. Enhancing the capacity of rivers through methods like bypass channels and channel deepening or widening is also crucial. Furthermore, implementing land-use control, dikes, flood proofing, zoning, and house rising to separate rivers from populations is essential. During floods, emergency management activities such as flood warnings, emergency works, and evacuation play a critical role. Finally, providing support for flood recovery through counseling, compensation, and insurance is vital in helping communities bounce back from the impact of flooding.
Among these interventions, we mostly applied the last two interventions, the emergency management activities and provision of support for flood recovery. We are not doing enough in the area of the other interventions and that is why we are not getting it right, even with the traditional approach that we adopted (maybe subconsciously). Our various water sinks (rivers, lakes, reservoirs etc.) have lost most of its storage capacity as a result of sedimentation and this challenge is not getting the desired attention it deserves. Desilting of these sinks would increase their storage capacity which in turn will reduce the hazard of flooding by storing more water. A well planned flood control reservoirs that would limit the flow of water in to the river to its carrying capacity will similarly go a long way in mitigating the hazards of flood. Alternatively, storage reservoirs would be cited at strategic vulnerable zones to take up the excess water. This water could later be used for other purposes (like irrigation) during dry period. The later intervention is particular very important considering that most of our run-off ended up in oceans making it unfit for consumption and other municipal uses. Managing flood is not a rocket science. With a well-planned management approach, the excess water could be utilized for other beneficial purposes that will enhance the livelihood of our teeming population. That is why it is disheartening to see that as a country we are lagging behind in one of the basic pro-active intervention needed to manage flood which is implementing land-use control. We have a development planning agencies across the states of the federation but enforcement of the desired land-use control is becoming a mirage. People are erecting structures in floodplains or waterways thereby negatively altering the natural drainage pattern of the area. A good flood management design should always start with the land-use planning of the area. A sustained and well planned application of these interventions, among others will go a long way in reducing the flood hazards we are always experiencing. Integrating these approaches within the concept of integrated water resources management would make it more sustainable and would be a way to go.
Engr. Nura Idris Abdullahi, Ph.D, Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Nigeria. +234803 704 4102, [email protected]
