Water everywhere - none to drink!

Water should never be a problem in Nigeria a country with a coastline slightly over 850 kilometres long that borders the vast Atlantic Ocean. Appallingly our coastal waters are being continuously polluted by either oil spills from the petrochemical industry, or untreated sewage discharged from coastal towns and cities. There are countries such as Israel and Libya which like Nigeria border the sea and have large expanses of hinterland desert areas.

Unlike Nigeria those countries are renowned for their pristine beaches and seaside tourist holiday resorts. Furthermore, they constructed massive irrigation projects, involving sea-water desalination plants and a pipeline network to transport the water and turn their desert areas into fertile lands. Nigerian leaders on the other hand preferred to build a massive oil refinery and lay a pipeline to move crude oil northwards rather than water. As a result, desertification continues unabated. Paradoxically our failure to plan for climate change has not only led to desertification of vast tranches of Nigeria’s territory, but also to increasingly frequent flooding.

As far back as the1950’s records show that Nigeria has suffered from flooding. Despite flooding becoming more regular and more severe, no serious preventative measures have been implemented. Floods and flooding are two very different phenomena. Floods are caused by natural events such as tsunamis, hurricanes, typhoons, snowmelt, and coastal tides. Flooding on the other hand comes after heavy rainfall when deforestation, poor farming, and the construction of buildings and other inappropriate urban structures prevent rainwater from draining away naturally. Flooding is avoidable because it only happens when natural watercourses don’t have the capacity to convey excess water. The regular avoidable loss of life, disruption of the economy and economic hardship imposed upon flood victims is becoming a national disgrace.

Some apologists mischievously equate flooding in Nigeria with that taking in place in the USA. Their argument is fallacious because flooding in the USA is a rare event which only comes during freak weather conditions. In Nigeria, flooding has become an annual event. According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 30 out of Nigeria’s 36 States are affected by annual flooding. It’s normal to expect flooding in “flood prone” areas located in the river deltas of Benue and Niger, but poor urban planning is causing more and more preventable flooding in cities which aren’t located in river delta areas. Spokespersons for the Ministry of Water Resources say that about 30 states should expect flooding this year.

According to them only approximately 15% of Nigeria’s annual rainfall is drained properly. The remaining water is supposed to be “controlled, harvested and managed” before ending up in the Atlantic Ocean. Government’s failure to ensure this happens has resulted in the increased annual flooding in major cities. If changes aren’t implemented immediately its evident that the problem will continue to escalate until it eventually becomes a catastrophic national disaster in years to come. Something must be done to stop desertification in the open areas of the North because the lack of vegetation and woodland to obstruct surface run-off aids flooding. Urban planning must be taken more seriously to halt the in increasing number of cities experiencing preventable flooding. In days gone by, residential buildings were relatively small structures located in large unfenced compounds whose gardens, lawns and flowerbeds absorbed the water.

Nowadays planning authorities tragically grant permission for construction of massive structures with interlocking tiles on small plots of fenced land which cannot absorb water. In addition to urban areas the river delta areas will continue to experience annual flooding simply because River Engineering (widening or deepening river channels to carry more water and reduce the risk of flood) has been dealt a death blow by corruption. Despite the Billions paid out for dredging of the River Niger, it’s abundantly clear that little appreciable work has been done over the years. Preventing flooding doesn’t appear to be high on any Governor’s list of priorities. For example, in Markurdi nothing concrete has been done to prevent further flooding since the tragic floods of 2012. Meanwhile, several white-elephant projects including a Presidential Guest House have been embarked upon. This lack of commitment to solving urban flooding problems is common to most States affected by regular flooding. In 2012, then President Goodluck Jonathan released 17.6 Billion Naira to various States and agencies for flood relief referring to the situation as “a national disaster”. Although government set up a Flood Prevention Committee no action was taken and there have been further floods in 2016 and 2017.

The urgent need for a strategy to implement a permanent solution to annual flooding can’t be over-emphasised. Ironically in spite of all the problems of excess water in Nigeria, the nation is approaching a crisis point where millions will suffer the side effects from prolonged consumption of unsafe drinking water. State Governments have completely abdicated their responsibility to provide safe pipeborn water and a billion Naira “pure water” industry has grown up around selling contaminated water. Both the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) are supposed to regulate the industry, but a recent survey in Lagos State indicates that less than 50% of “pure” water sold is actually pure! In various camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP’s) there are cholera epidemics caused by consuming unhygienic water. Indeed, all low-income earners in Nigeria are facing the increased risk of cancer and the other long-term ill-effects of mass consumption of carcinogenic materials found to be present in “pure” water. There is an adage that where there is water there is life. In Nigeria, the opposite now seems to be the case, because whether through rainfall or drinking, instead of enhancing life our water brings death, sickness and destruction!