The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, NIHSA, Tuesday, warned government at all levels, stakeholders, multi-nationals and public-spirited individuals against possible high-level flooding and called for early preparation to avert consequential damages.
This is even as the agency called for the building of new dams to enable the country to contain the upsurge of possible flooding expected this year, saying that the country lacks dams to tackle flood crisis.
The warning was issued by the Director-General, NIHSA, Engr. Clement Nze, at the 2020 maiden press briefing in Abuja.
Nze said the warning became necessary, because of the increasing global population and the expanding activities of man, flooding will continue to persist and therefore there is the need to control human activities, environmental adjustment and purposefully adopting actions in certain areas that would make adjustment possible.
He said: “Flooding problem is a global environmental issue which is faced by many countries worldwide, particularly in areas close to low lying terrains and river valleys.
“Over the past years, there has been increasing concern that human actions and natural catastrophes have been adversely impacting the environment, posing serious ecological and environmental hazards.
“Though flood is a natural environmental phenomenon, it can be greatly accelerated by human Induced activities as it is the case worldwide.
“Thus with the increasing global population and the expanding activities of man, it is believed that flooding will continue to persist and therefore there is the need to control human activities, environmental adjustment and purposefully adopting actions in certain areas that would make adjustment possible.
“Some flood events may cause little or no damage, but some may result in major disasters involving structural and erosion damages, disruption of socio-economic activities, loss of lives and properties, displacement of people, destruction of agricultural land and contamination of water and environment in general.”
“The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) wishes to use this medium to advise state and local governments, stakeholders, multi-national companies and public-spirited individuals and philanthropists that this period of the dry season is the best time to prepare for the year 2020.
“This is the appropriate time to construct drainages where they are necessary (but not provided), dredging river channels, clear blocked gutters, and drainages, pull down structures that are within the floodplains and flood paths, etc. “There is a reasonable time to do that before the rains set in.”
Recall that the 2020 Seasonal Rainfall Prediction (SRP) made public recently by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet), indicated that February 24th and June 22nd are the predicted onset of rainfall in the South-South and Northern States respectively, while the respective predicted cessation dates are December 28th and September 26th.
This implies that Nigeria is likely to experience a longer period of the rainy season in 2020 compared to the year 2019. He also said the agency will soon present to Nigerians the 8th Edition of its Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) in no distant time.
Although, the prediction does not automatically translate to more flooding incidents, in that there are a lot of other factors like high-intensity rainfall of long duration, inadequate drainage of low lying areas, silted channels, urbanisation and severe winds over water, unusual high tides, tsunamis, failure of dams, levees, retention ponds, or other structures that contain the water.
The NIHSA boss, however, called for the construction of more dams as part of the precursor to tackling the menace of over-flooding in the country, insisting that Nigeria is under- dammed with just about 56 Dams compared to other countries with hundreds of dams.
“We expect that the more Dams we have in Nigeria the more we control flooding”, he said. The NIHSA boss, however, assured that the 8th Edition of its ¹Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) would be presented to the general public in no distant time.
