Nigeria’s Worst Floods And What Must Be Done

 By Banke Oniru

This year’s flooding came like a thief in the night unexpectedly and left a devastating effect on the land.

Bayelsa is among 33 of 36 Nigerian states grappling with the devastation effect of the country’s worst flooding in a decade. More than 600 lives have been lost in the floods across the affected region and a projection that almost 1.5 million people have been displaced while almost 3.5 million people had been affected, according to the humanitarian ministry.

Are we saying that the ministry responsible for the monitoring of the weather didn’t get the wind that such a disaster was lurking? And if they did, what did they do, and what was done to notify or evacuate people from the right of way of the long shadow of the flood?

Help For Flood Victims In Kogi, Bayelsa, Others

 By Moshood Erubami

The torrential downpour from  rain and its consequences have come against pre-warnings that the resultant flooding will destroy crops, houses, schools, and businesses including the losses of lives, with many injured and countless losing their livelihoods, while millions will be displaced.

The loud shout for immediate action on the effects of global warming and climate change and its consequences in flooding resulting from the climate emergency is now. It is most tragic and pitiable that most residents of the states ravaged by the flooding in Nigeria now pull up canoe boats in front of their houses to access the outside outlet to reach their various destinations while waiting for the government both in the state and federal, for actions that could bail them out of the condition and mitigate their affected economic and social conditions. The images captured of the consequential menace of the heavy rains are nauseating with men, women and their children largely affected with life-impacting consequences wading in waterlogged streets after the flooding.