Floods of Fury in Nigerian Cities

Abstract

Flooding is a phenomenon that sometimes has devastating effects on human livelihoods. Impact of floods is more pronounced in low-lying areas due to rapid growth in population, poor governance, decaying infrastructure and lack of proper environmental planning and management. Flooding is also exacerbated by climate change and inadequate preparedness. However, flooding in most Nigerian cities is a major environmental challenge that has continued to defy solution as more people are rendered vulnerable to hazards involved. The implications of recent flooding in Nigerian cities include among others; loss of life and properties, spread of diseases, deformed livelihoods, assets and infrastructure. This paper therefore provides an overview of how Nigerian cities have been affected by flood incidences. The paper contends that prevailing effects of climate change, particularly flooding affecting almost everything in cities demands urgent attention in form of environmental and infrastructure planning, effective policy, improved and effective management of ecological fund, enhanced environmental disaster insurance, effective professional practice, enhanced public enlightment programmes, integration of environmental planning and education to curriculum of schools at all levels, capacity building towards adaptation and mitigation of climate change impact. It also argued for the need to reinvent Nigerian cities through good governance towards creating sustainable cities in the country.

A media framing analysis of urban flooding in Nigeria: current narratives and implications for policy

“…Although Bashir et al (2012) provide a list of flood incidents and associated impacts in selected cities covering up till 2010, on the basis of this work, Appendix 1 extends this to September 2016.…”

“…Although studies have documented flooding incidents that occurred more recently (Bashir et al 2012;Ugonna 2016), for example, the 2011 flood that mostly affected the south western cities of Lagos and Ibadan, they did not gain much national attention. Thus, the entire country was unprepared for the 2012 flood, which ravaged the majority of cities in the north and south of the country.…”

Review article: A review and critical analysis of the efforts towards urban flood risk management in the Lagos region of Nigeria

“…The general impacts (such as displacement from homes, mortality, physical injuries, disruption of economic activities, destruction of urban infrastructure, and submergence of buildings) that relate to social systems directly have been extensively considered in the literature (Ugwu and Ugwu, 2013;Adigun et al, 2013;Ajibola et al, 2012;Aderogba, 2012b;Olajuyigbe et al, 2012). However, there are reports that Lagos flooding causes severe additional impacts including the loss of social values, spread of vector-borne diseases, as well as air and water pollution (Adelekan, 2010;Olajuyigbe et al, 2012;Bashir et al, 2012). Olajuyigbe et al (2012) report that flood hazard increases city-wide poverty as a result of the farmlands which are destroyed and essential services which are often interrupted.…”

Social vulnerability in three high-poverty climate change hot spots: What does the climate change literature tell us?

“…The Nile and South Asian deltas in particular are important economic and commercial centres that host millions of people (Seto 2011), but less well-known deltas also have high exposure, illustrated by the 60,000 lives lost during flooding in Kenya in 2006 (Cinner et al 2012). Exposure of delta cities and other coastal areas is exacerbated by rapid development, often unplanned, which concentrates populations in these areas and often undermines natural coastal protection (Chan et al 2012;Odufuwa Bashir et al 2012;Revi 2008;Dossou and GlehouenouDossou 2007). These factors are found to varying degrees in most of the deltas in South Asia and Africa.…”