The increasing probability of flood risk in terms of its magnitude and frequency in urban areas prompted man to act for flood mitigation measures. Various flood risk control measures were carried out in different parts of the world but flood events persisted. This paper assessed the main causes of flood risk in urban areas and the various flood risk management measures for flood control so as to come out with a sustainable flood risk mitigation measures for urban areas. Related theories and empirical studies were reviewed as a method to acquire relevant information for analyzing the factors of flood risk and the trend in flood risk mitigation measures. The result points out the inability of both structural and non-structural measures to completely stop flood occurrences. Hence, an integration of the current measures and a partial systematic conversion of land use to its natural state can sustainably reduce flood risk in urban places.

This study is aimed at assessing the impacts of Third National Fadama Development Project (NFDP III) on provision of Small-scale Community-owned Infrastructures (SCIs) for poverty reduction. The sector goal of NFDP III was to reduce poverty by improving the living conditions of the rural poor; contribute to food security and increase access to rural infrastructure. The study made use of questionnaires to generate primary data from 245 respondents whilst Project Implementation Manuals, Appraisal Reports, Baseline and Midline Surveys, etc constituted the secondary data. The study found out that outcomes of NFDP III had profound impacts on the incidence of poverty of the beneficiaries. For example in Kaduna State, incomes of Crop farmers increased by 199% and Livestock owners by 221%. In Sokoto State, the incomes of Crop farmers increased by 225% and Livestock owners by 315%. The food security situation of about 84.4% and 98.3% of the beneficiaries had improved, greatly and the socio-economic conditions of 74.2% and 95.7% of the beneficiaries had been promoted, significantly. The study recommends that to further sustained the impetus created by NFDP III on poverty reduction in Nigeria, the Federal, States and Local Governments should as a matter of concern, extend their commitments beyond those of facilitating the provision of rural infrastructure to those of scaling-up the levels of provision, maintenance and management and poverty reduction should ever remain part of national development goals.

The increasing frequency of flood events in urban areas and its devastating impact on lives, properties, resources and the environment as a whole has posed a serious concern to environmental scientist the world over. There are many different perspectives regarding factors responsible for flood risk in urban areas, which range from hydrological extremes to man-induced factors. This paper examines the impact of built environment on the increasing flood occurrences in Gombe Metropolis in Nigeria. Data was essentially collected through questionnaire survey and analyzed using statistical model so as to discover the main factors causing flood in the metropolis. A multi-stage sampling technique was applied for data collection, where Gombe Metropolis was categorized into eleven residential quarters and a total of two hundred and fifty one questionnaires were administered to chief householders in the respective residential quarters in the metropolis, and finally multi-linear regression analysis was conducted, where flood risk is conveyed as a function of some selected urban development variables and used to examine the relationships and impact of these variables on causing flooding and the increasing flood risk via a statistical model. The result shows that rapid growth of built-up environment with poor implementation of building control measures is the main factor for flood risk in Gombe Metropolis. However, construction of built-up areas on floodplains as well as inadequate space between building structures as recommended by the town planning laws, has also contributed immensely to the increasing flood risk in Gombe Metropolis.

This work was carried out in collaboration between both authors. Author LMD designed the study, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Author SI managed the literature searches, analyses of the study performed the spectroscopy analysis and author SI managed the experimental process and author SI identified the species of plant. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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