• 76 Anambra communities raise the alarm over possible flood disaster, seek FG’s urgent intervention
From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Anambra State is one of the worst flood-prone states in Nigeria. Indications from the 2023 National Flood Outlook by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA), showed that the country would witness its worst flood devastation this year.
Already, about 76 Anambra communities are in panic mode following what they described as the foot dragging by federal and state governments in responding early over the looming 2023 flood disaster in the area.
National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) also earlier this year warned against the impending flood disaster in over 30 states. It urged the affected communities to take proactive measures by moving to higher and safer grounds.
According to The Conservation, in 2022, the flooding caused over 600 deaths and affecting an estimated 3.2 million people in 34 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. The floods destroyed over 569,251 hectares of farmlands.
Farmers in Anambra West, East, Ayamelum, Ogbaru and Awka North council areas are lamenting what become their food crops that will be submerged by this year’s flooding.
One of them, Mrs Adora Nwokoye, Ayamelum Local Government, said: “We have not seen any government officials coming to talk to us here. We don’t even know where to run to when the flood comes because there is nothing on ground.”
President General, Akili-Ogidi Community, Ogbaru Local Government, Michael Chukwuse, said they were told that sensitisation against this year’s flooding had commenced: “We urge government to come early and commence intervention before it comes. Ogbaru LG is where the entire flood will empty. We should commence evacuation on time before it is late.”
In Anambra West LG, a senior staff of the agriculture department, Ajane Obi, noted: Seventeen communities that make up the area are undergoing sensitisation. But government should assist the farmers in the harvesting and preservation of the agricultural produce before the flood.”
A fish farmer in the neighbouring Anambra East LG, Veracious Nweke, said: “We want government to start early enough because last year’s flood took us unawares. You could imagine what we passed through last year.”
Deputy Governor and Chairman, Flood Mitigation Committee (FMC), Dr Onyekachukwu Ibezim, promised to make public what government was doing to avert the effects of the disaster early enough even as he urged the communities not to panic. He appealed to those along the river line communities to heed the directives of the meteorologist on flood disasters.
Last year, farmers in 15 communities of Ogbaru LG embarked on panic harvesting over the fear of flood menace. The communities had suffered from perennial flood disasters around August of every year. Daily Sun gathered that many of the farmers, who obtained loans from the Bank of Agriculture (BoA) and suffered severe losses, were yet to recover.
Chukwuse said they decided to take their destiny in their own hands: “If the farmers do not evacuate their produce now, it will be too late for them when we get to September and October. By that time, people will be relocating to the upland and the farm produce will have been washed away by the flood and you cannot have access to the farms.”
The Anambra case with others was on the front burner last Wednesday, in the House of Representatives. The immediate past Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, presented a motion raising the alarm on the imminent flood disaster in Nigeria, ahead the rainy season. He called for urgent action against flooding.
The motion of urgent public importance was titled, “Need to commence active measures to mitigate the probable devastation of severe flood season and prepare palliative intervention to prevent the worst socio-economic consequences for Nigerians in the affected areas.”
He said: “Alarge portion of the country is prone to an annual destructive flooding incidents which recurring events have, in recent years, increased significantly in severity and the extent of the devastation of lives and property. The prediction of an early rainy season already came to pass.
“There is every reason to expect the forecast of a heavy rainy season will also come to fruition. The house is concerned that the 2023 Annual Flood Outlook prepared by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency shows that 178 LGs in 32 states and the FCT fall within the highly probable flood risk areas.
“The house is aware that Nigeria has yet to recover from the 2022 flood, which affected more than four million Nigerians, displaced over two million people, caused the death of 665 people, damaged about 355,986 houses and homesteads and destroyed an estimated total of 944,989 hectares of farmlands.
“The house is also aware that the experience of the 2022 flood caused the Federal Government to constitute a presidential committee to develop a comprehensive Plan of Action for Preventing Flood Disasters in Nigeria. The plan proposes structural and non-structural measures, land and water management systems and better coordination amongst stakeholders across the federal and state governments to ensure effective flood management in Nigeria.
“For The Conservation, it is important for the Federal Government and state agencies to work in coordination. As a matter of urgency, states should set up local disaster management committees to assist in creating awareness and relocating communities living in flood-prone areas.”