Flood: Residents resist evacuation, seek help

Residents of flood-prone communities in several states are resisting evacuation and are instead asking the authorities to come to their aid, Daily Trust reports.

Following the recent flood that killed over 200 persons and left about 500 others missing at communities in Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State, the federal government, last week, raised the alarm that 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are currently at the risk of a similar disaster.

The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, listed the high flood risk states as Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara.

The minister, who blamed the Mokwa flood on heavy rainfall heightened by the effects of climate change, said the high casualty figure was caused by lack of adherence by people in the state to flood warnings.

The perennial flooding in the country has raised questions over the utilisation of the billions of Ecological Fund disbursed to the states and the FCT from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to address ecological crises, including flooding.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the sum of N39.62 billion was disbursed to the 36 states and the FCT from June 2023 to June 2024.

The Ecological Fund, which was established in 1981, is drawn from the federation account at a rate of two per cent, with the primary objective of assisting all the tiers of government to tackle ecological problems such as flooding, desertification, erosion, oil spills and drought.

The disbursement process is managed by the Ecological Fund Office in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Vice President Kashim Shettima also last year disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu approved N3 billion for each state to address natural disasters, including flooding.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 1,237 persons lost their lives and 1,243,638 Nigerians were displaced due to floods across the country in 2024. The agency also said the floods affected over 5.2 million people, injured 16,469, and damaged 1,439,296 farmlands.

Last Saturday, Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum appealed to the federal government to speed up the rehabilitation and expansion of the Alau Dam to forestall a recurrence of the 2024 flood.

Zulum spoke during the Sallah homage by the Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar El-Kanemi, to him at the Government House, Maiduguri.

The governor stated, “After the groundbreaking ceremony for the reconstruction and expansion of the dam, which we all attended, the truth is that the work is not progressing as expected.

“The last time I visited the president, I informed him about the true state of the project. I assure you I will not relent. I will continue to follow up, and I have also notified the vice president.”