THE BENUE FLOOD AND MATTERS ARISING

The latest flood points to the fact that we have not done enough in managing the environment

While torrential rains have, in recent weeks, wreaked serious havoc on lives and property in several parts of the country, nowhere has the impact been as damaging as Benue State. According to the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), no fewer than 110,000 people in 24 communities including Makurdi, the state capital, have been displaced by flood. The scale of the disaster is such that, in some of the affected 14 local governments, almost whole communities, markets and farmlands were submerged. Even the state radio station was not spared.

Aside creating refugees of homeless citizens, there are fears of epidemic diseases with this new challenge wrought by nature. “The damage by flood disaster so far is massive; the state alone cannot bear the financial burden involved in tackling it,” said Governor Samuel Ortom. “Many communities have been washed away, while farms have equally been swept off. We want the federal government, individuals and organisations to assist”. We join in his call for private organisations and well-endowed individuals to come to the aid of Benue, as they do in other parts of the world, so as to prevent what is fast becoming a humanitarian tragedy.

Yet, as bad as the situation may seem today in the state, the worst is not over since climate change is creating a situation where too much water comes at an unexpected time, or in unexpected places and causing serious problem. Unfortunately, the management of the country’s environment has left much to be desired, even when there are statutory Federal and State Ministries of Environment, including agencies that are supposed to

THE ISSUE OF THE ECOLOGICAL FUND MANAGEMENT STILL NEEDS TO BE ADDRESSED NOT ONLY FOR THE SAKE OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY, BUT ALSO TO INSTITUTIONALISE IT FOR NECESSARY INTERVENTIONS IN TIMES LIKE THIS

ensure a sustainable preservation of Nigeria’s ecosystem.

The most galling in the strings of woeful performance of Nigeria’s environment sector is the mismanagement of the Ecological Fund. Meanwhile, we agree with the Benue Commissioner for Water Resources and Environment, Joseph Utsey that the federal government should include the state among those to benefit from the N1.6 billion ecological fund.

That may well happen since President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to immediately mobilise personnel and resources to assist the victims. He also assured that the federal government would make available any assistance needed to enable the state government and the affected communities cope with and surmount the impact of the flooding.

However, the issue of the ecological fund management still needs to be addressed not only for the sake of accountability and transparency, but also to institutionalise it for necessary interventions in times like this. Established to mitigate the various environmental challenges in the country by empowering state governments, the fund has become a public till where state executives dip their hands for private use. In recent past, we have had to raise pertinent questions about the misuse of the fund but it does not appear as if the relevant authorities are paying any attention.

On the whole, time has come for the government to become more accountable in the management of the environment. The era of impunity should be done with and in earnest. The Federal Ministry of Environment should also sit up and adopt more proactive measures to ensure that mitigation of environmental degradation is a continuous task. State governments should also put in new systems that entail protection of the ecosystem in line with cleaner environment.

While we implore all the critical stakeholders to come to the aid of Benue State as it tries to deal with the current challenge of flooding, it is also our hope that the authorities would see it as another wake-up call for the proper management of the environment.