Keywords

Introduction

Now in its sixth year, the threats the 2012 flood disaster along with the subsequent flood disasters that accompanied it posed on the livelihood of the victims in relation to the protracted impoverishment and displacement that these victims suffered while awaiting the government and private led humanitarian groups on relief materials have been the subject of debate among scholars, policy analysts, and climate change mitigation and adaptation experts (Nwodim 2016). The 2012 flood disaster in Nigeria that began in early July alone killed 363 people and displaced over 2.1 million people as of November 5, 2012 (Adekola and Lamond 2018).

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 30 out of the 36 states were affected by the floods. The floods were termed as the worst in Nigeria history in 40 years, and affected an estimated total of seven million people (Nkwunonwo 2016). The estimated damages and losses caused by the floods were worth 2.6 trillion naira (Cirella and Iyalomhe 2018). As rightly noted by Ndujihe (2018), flood disasters which followed the devastating 2012 event have the usual trend of submerging houses, deaths of people, population displacement, washing away of farmlands, and destruction of people sources of livelihood which have implications on the growing incident of impoverishment among affected Nigerian population. In fact, the 2018 flood disaster recorded in different states in Nigeria alone, especially from Bayelsa state, has been rated as the worst in the last 6 years (Akukwe et al. 2018).

In Nigeria, different factors have been deduced which account for the incessant cases of flood disaster in the country especially in states declared as the flashpoints for flood disaster (Nkwunonwo et al. 2016; Conversation 2017). First, climate change which causes global warming has been singled out as the basic factor that accounts for the increasing cases of flood disaster which has been shown to contribute to more extreme storms and rainfall. Another factor contributing to flooding in the country is that of the increasing rapid urban growth and poor drainage/culvert system planning. This chapter has as its objective the impacts of government response over these years on the plight of the flood victims. The assessment of the successive flood disasters from 2012 to 2018 on how it undermined livelihood, displaced population, destroyed farmlands, and foster impoverishment on the affected population. The rest of the chapter includes the introduction, definition of terms, method and sources of data collection and analysis, government response to the victims of floods in Nigeria, and protracted challenges facing the government in this regard.The reported cases of deaths, population displaced, damages and victims impoverished by flooding in Nigeria within the period under review. We draw conclusion with strategic recommendations.

Definition of Terms

The concepts of flood, livelihood displacement, poverty, government response, and victims of flood are pivotal in this discourse. Hence the definition of these terms will enhance a shared understanding of their usage in this discourse.

  • Flood:

    This is the outpouring or overflowing of water usually through rainfall which covers dry space and causes devastations on the socioeconomic activities of the people. Flood can occur through outburst of dam which releases much water on the dry spaces. Recent flood disasters in Nigeria have brought about the deaths of Nigerians, the washing away or destruction of farmlands, submerging of houses which heralds population displacement. Flood can be defined as an overflow of large quantities of water onto a normally dry land. Flooding happens in many ways due to overflow of streams, rivers, lakes, or oceans or as a result of excessive rainfall. Flood or flooding also destroys crops and can wipe away trees and other important structures on land.

  • Livelihood displacement (LD):

    Livelihood implies various means through which individuals secures a living. Livelihood also involves individuals or people assets, capabilities, income, and activities required to secure a living. Livelihood displacement encompasses threats that disarticulate or disrupt the operations of livelihood. In Nigeria, like in any other parts of the world, floods or flooding has proved to be the potent threat to livelihood displacement or disruption. Natural disasters like earthquake, hurricane, and climate change could become threat to livelihood displacement. In Nigeria, the 2012 flood disaster and the successive disasters have washed away cash crops and farmlands, fish pond, poultry business economic activities where people derived their livelihood.

  • Poverty:

    The displacement of people from their means of livelihood through flooding without the provision of relief material either from the government or private sector led humanitarian agencies to cushion the devastating impacts of the displacement could exarcerbated impoverishment among the victims of flooding. Poverty in this chapter means lack of capability or the capacity by the victims of flooding to provide for their basic necessities of life such as house, food, water, and healthcare, among others.

  • Government response (GR):

    This is taking to mean, assistance, and support in the forms of relief materials given to the flood victims with the intention to reduce their sufferings brought about by flood disaster. In Nigeria, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) oversees and supervises the delivery of these relief materials across the Nigeria. Each state in Nigeria, for administrative convenience, has their respective State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). Part of government response to the plight of flood victims in Nigeria is the release of fund. In 2012, the government under President Good luck Jonathan released the sum of ₦17.6 billion for the support of flood victims. Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the federal government has earmarked ₦ 1.6 billion each for the following states in the wake of the 2018 flood disaster across these states. The benefiting states are: Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Lagos, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo, and Bayelsa.

  • Flood victims (FV)

    This is taking to mean individuals, groups, households, and communities that suffered from the devastating impacts of flood disaster. In Nigeria, there is victims support fund for flood disaster. Flood victims are person or persons whose houses were submerged by floods, farmland and livestock’s destroyed, and source of livelihood is undermined or disrupted by flood disaster.

Method and Source of Data Collection and Analysis

This chapter adopted the documentary method of data collection that derived its base from the secondary sources of data gathering that include journal articles, newspapers, books, government publications, among others. The qualitative method of data analysis via content analysis was used to analyze the materials gathered from the secondary sources.

Reported Cases of Deaths, Population Displacement, Damages, and Victims Impoverished by Flooding in Nigeria, 2012–2018

From the year 2012 to 2018, the incident of flood disasters and its associated impacts on the victims of flood has been ernamours (Onwuka et al. 2015). Table 1 below covers the series of livelihood displaced, farmlands and cash crops washed away by flood, displaced people and livestock, impoverishment, and deaths, which occurred in Nigeria in some selected states. The logic behind the selection of these states was based on the declaration of the states as flashpoints or state vulnerable to flood disaster.

Table 1 Shows reported cases of deaths, population displacement, damages and victims impoverished by flooding in Nigeria, 2012–2018
Full size table

Government Responses to the Victims of Flooding and Challenges to Government Responses to the Plight of Flood Victims in Nigeria

In meeting with the increasing humanitarian needs of the flood victims, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) was established via Act 12 as amended by Act 50 of 1999, to manage disasters in Nigeria. Therefore, from inception, NEMA has been tackling disaster-related issues through the establishment of concrete structures and measures, such measures as the education of the public in order to raise their level of awareness and reduce the effects of disasters in the country. In each of the 36 states including the Federal Capital Territory, there exists the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA). From 2012 to 2018 involving the administration of President Good luck Jonathan and the current administration of President Muhammad Buhari, various emergency interventionist funds have been given to the states affected by the flood disasters. Under the former President Goodluck Jonathan, the sum of ₦17.6 billion naira was shared to states by the federal government to states hard hit by flooding. Following the rampaging floods of 2018, the federal government released ₦1.6 billion naira to 16 states that benefited from the intervention. The states are Ekiti, Osun, Akwa Ibom, Kebbi, Niger, Kwara, Ebonyi, Enugu, Abia, Oyo, Lagos, Plateau, Sokoto, Edo, and Bayelsa.

Despite federal government efforts in ameliorating the humanitarian needs of the flood victims, in 2018, the government pledged $8.2 million for relief efforts as well as declaring a state of emergency in four states, namely, Niger, Anambra, Kogi, and Delta States. NEMA set up five emergency operation centers to facilitate search and rescue operations and humanitarian support. Orji (2018) had revealed that the various efforts and program in rescue and support for the flood victims have faced huge practical challenges in reaching flood victims; however, these efforts have also reportedly been undermined by poor management, bad governance, and corruption. Other challenges derailing the government efforts in meeting with the humanitarian needs of the floods victims is failure on the part of successive government to plan and prepare for long-term solution to the crisis of flooding in the country. People mistrust on government ability to come to their rescue in the face of national disaster and inability of the Nigerian state to judiciously implement the provisions of disaster management plan. The widening gap in the interaction between the state (Federal Government) and various Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in the country have not been cordial.

Conclusion and Strategic Recommendations

We began the chapter with the position that the lives of the victims of floods in Nigeria from the illustrated cases in our Table 1 show that from 2012 to 2018, destruction of farmlands and cash crops, population displacement, deaths of many Nigerians and the wanton destruction of people livelihoods were devastating in Ngeria. With this, the following strategic recommendations are offered:

  • Nigerian government should develop a long-term strategic plan toward the rescue, support, and release of humanitarian needs of the population. The culture of reactive from the federal government toward the plight of the floods victims should be discouraged.

  • Fund so released for meeting the demands and needs of the floods victims should be monitored by the federal government to avoid rascality, misuse of funds, and diversion of the fund for personal aggrandizement of their members.

  • There should be appropriate climate-related education in order to sensitize the population on risks associated with the floods.