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By Olakunle Olafioye
The Director General of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, NIHSA, Mr Clement Nze, has said that the worst, in terms of flooding ravaging parts of the country, may not be over yet as more rainfall is still being expected in the remaining months of the year.
Nze who rated the flooding experienced this year and its attendant devastations more than what the country witnessed in 2012, blamed the development on a number of factors.
Notable among these factors is what he described as above-normal rainfall in some locations within the country.
The NIHSA boss speaks more in this interview. Excerpt:
Some Nigerians have described the flooding experienced in the country this year as unprecedented. How true is the claim?
The flood of this year, by all standards, has exceeded that of 2012. Until now, 2012 had remained the benchmark, but this year the bar has been raised. So, this year’s flood incidents, the devastation, loss of lives, property, economic loss and so on have exceeded those of 2012. Although historical records may reveal much more devastating flood incidents in the past, but for the most people alive today, the flooding experienced in Nigeria in 2012 was considered the most devastating until this year’s flooding. In hydrology, there is what we call the return interval, that is flood of certain magnitude re-occurring after a certain period of time. It could be 10 years; it could be eight years. I believe there must have been flood incidents that might be much higher than what we have experienced this year. But that of 2012 was what most people made reference to as the most devastating in recent history before that of this year.
What would you attribute this year’s flooding to?
First and foremost, the forecasting agencies at the federal level gave their predictions earlier in the year. For instance, NIMET went public in February to release its seasonal climatic predictions, they gave us information of what to expect in terms of weather: amount of rainfall over different cities across the country, onset, cessation and the length of days. They also predicted temperature and humidity and so on. Some of these things are short term. Shortly after NIHSA, through the Honourable Minister of Water Resources, came on air and predicted flood incidents across the country. So, we can say, this year’s flooding was caused majorly by above normal rainfall in several locations in Nigeria. NIMET actually predicted that some locations would have normal rainfall while some would have above normal rainfall. Many locations in Nigeria experienced above normal rainfall. I was with the Chief Executive of Chad Basin Development Authority this afternoon at the National Assembly. He said they recorded over 200 millimeters of rainfall in a single day in Maiduguri, whereas Maiduguri may be having about 500 millimeters of rainfall in a whole season of rainfall, that is a duration of about four to five months. That is what we call rainfall of high intensity in a shorter duration. If you want to pour water away, let’s say water of about 20 litres. If you pour it gradually, you may not see the impact unlike when you pour it away at once. That is exactly what happened. High intensity of water came down over a very short period of time. That gave birth to flooding which was further exacerbated by anthropogenic activities of man such as blockage of drainages or lack of drainages, building within flood plains and so on. So heavy amount of rainfall like what happened in Jigawa State, for instance, the amount of rainfall they could experience in a year, about half of it happened within a few hours on a single day. That’s why Jigawa was one of the worst hit states before we had that of Bayelsa, where over 90 people died. That is heavy rainfall and we can attribute it to climate change.
Was there any time this year country, like Cameroon, opened their dams without informing Nigeria?
There was a Memorandum of Understanding signed by both countries in 2016 to conclude a process that began after the 2012 flooding. There are two structures in Cameroon that are very important to Nigeria because of their effects on Nigeria. One is Lake Nyos. It contains about 50 million cubic meters of poisonous gases. In August in 1986, because the embarkment was weak, it exploded and threw poisonous gases into the atmosphere and it eventually flowed down to Nigeria through Katsina Ala River. It killed so many people and animals. So, the United Nations had to intervene that was why Nigeria had to build the Kashimbila Dam on Katsina Ala River that could contain whatever is coming from Lake Nyos in case it breaks. Another facility in Cameroon which was one of the reasons the MoU was signed is the Lagdo Dam built between 1977 and 1982 in Cameroon. The agreement is that whatever will happen with these facilities Cameroon should let Nigeria know. After this MOU was signed, they (Cameroon) released water in 2019. I was outside the country when I was called from Yola that Yola was being flooded. I went there around 28th of October, 2019 when the rain must have ceased or almost ceased in the northern part of Nigeria. River Benue was swelling. So I kept calling Cameroon but they kept denying opening their dam. It was not until 1st of November that they owned up to me that they opened their dam on the 10th of October and closed it on 31st of the month; that was duration of 21 days of spilling of water. Again this year when we were experiencing heavy flooding in different cities of Nigeria and heavy rainfall with devastations, I had to keep calling them that if they should open their dam that it would compound what was happening in Nigeria. They assured me that they would inform Nigeria if they want to open their dam. So, I kept following up. So, on Wednesday, 14th September, when I followed up again, I got a reply that they opened the dam a day before, which was 13th of September, Tuesday. They claimed they opened it at 8:50a.m and that they were spilling water at the rate of 650 cubic metre per second. It is suffice to say we were not notified again before they opened their dam. It was because I kept asking that was why they told us that they had opened it.
In a situation like this, is there any penalty for flouting the agreement reached?
We can only settle it diplomatically. There was a meeting we held here in Nigeria under the United Nations concerning issues of trans-boundary rivers, which Nigeria is committed to. Nigeria acceded to it that whatever is acceptable internationally, with regards to trans-boundary rivers, we will play our role as expected. There was a protest letter written by the honorable Minister of Water Resources, Suleman Adamu, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria, who naturally should be there during the signing of the MoU in 2016, requesting him to communicate with his counterpart in Cameroon, that was in 2019, that they did not respect the letters of the MoU by opening their dam without informing Nigeria. So, it can be handled at that level.
Nigeria is also said not to have enough dams to deal with flooding in the country. How true is this?
I am one of those who keep saying that Nigeria does not have enough dams. Our dams in Nigeria are not more than 420 with about 56 large dams. A country like Canada has about 933 large dams, some countries have in thousands. We know the significance of dams in controlling flooding, irrigation, hydropower, among other uses. So, we need more dams. If there are dams on the tributaries of River Benue and River Niger, we will not be having so much water flowing into the main rivers Niger and Benue from their tributaries. For River Benue, for instance, we have Katsina Ala River, which has a dam, Kashimbila dam. We also have tributaries which do not have dams. This makes it difficult to regulate the inflow into the main river channels. So, we need more dams in Nigeria.
What pattern of rain and flooding should Nigeria expect in the remaining months of the year?
By the update given by NIMET, it appears it in not yet Uhuru, especially in the southern part of Nigeria in terms of rainfall. Rain has not ceased in the central part of the country, but the emphasis has been on the South-south, the Southeast and the Southwest. We are still likely to witness more rainfall in these areas and in terms of the intensity, it might still be heavy. From the prediction we may still have rain till around 26th of December.
We waste a lot of resources in terms of flood. Many countries are looking for flood. Countries like Ethiopia, Eritrea, which do not have the benefit of a full month of rainfall in a year. But here we are having rainfall even in some places we have rain falling for more than ten months in a year. If we are able to manage the flood it becomes a resource. We have been advocating what is called detention basins. We can create channelisation, for example, at the bank of River Benue at certain distances in the states. State government can do that. You create a channel of, let’s say 15m wide or less, several metres deep and then some kilometre away, you create basins such that in the event the water level in these rivers rises when it gets to certain threshold water will be diverted and be detained. You can have a battery of it in a state so that you can reduce the amount of water that will translate to flooding that can destroy lives and property. Secondly, you retain water you can make use of all year-round for irrigation. Thirdly, life can begin to spring around the areas where you have these detention basins. Human population gravitates towards where there are bodies of water. In Abuja, there is what we call the Jabi Lake. It is artificial: it was built by Julius Berger in the 1990s. If you go there, you will see life bubbling there from morning till night because of water. If we can create a number of that in every state it will reduce the devastation of flooding in the country.
