It’s been weeks of Nightmare for so many people for some weeks now. So many lives have been lost, many rendered homeless since it started and the worst thing is that it doesn’t look like it’s stopping soon. We are still in October and more rain will still fall this year. If that was the only factor it would have been easy, the negligence of the Government also contribute to this but no one is ready to take full responsibility.
The fact that this has been happening for some weeks and much isn’t said about it simply because it isn’t happening in the popular states in the country. I’m sure if it happened in Lagos or Abuja, it would receive more screen time on our daily news and the government will be fast in seeking a temporary solution.
Truly, we can’t keep blaming the government for everything when we’ve also failed to do our parts, but I’ll leave that for other paragraphs, for now, let me talk about the failings of the government.
According to the report, another factor that contributed to this devastating flood is the failure of the Nigerian Government to fulfil its promise of building a twin dam together with the Cameroonian Government. Cameroon built theirs in the ‘80s but Nigeria failed to, and every year water is released from the Cameroon dam to the Nigeria border. This coupled with the heavy rain (Caused by climate change) has led to the flood.
Another failing of the government is the disregard for the constant warning from experts. As a country, we should have laws in place about various human activities that shouldn’t be. Every day people cut down trees without replacing them and no punishment or fine is given to them. At the sight of a little raindrop, people rush out to pour dirt and garbage into drains and gutters. Even back when we have officers going about sanctioning offenders they fail to implement this by taking bribes.
Our reality
Houses covered with water
Death and loss of property
Close to 700 people are reportedly dead, over 2500 injured and 1.5million rendered homeless and there is fear of more happening. People now take their valuables to the top of their roofs, canoes are now used to move around towns now. So many children are now rendered fatherless and wives, widows. Though it might be happening in some parts of the country if we continue to ignore our environment, it's a matter of time before it affects us all.
Children can't go to school, no clean water to drink, sickness and cold, people can't go to work, no access to good medical care.
Famine and hunger
The flood swept away a lot of farmland and destroyed a lot of plantations. Some rivers are flowing beyond their banks and farms are littered with garbage. For a country still struggling with domestic production, this is a great set back and we might go back to our huge dependence on the importation of foods and as we know it will lead to high prices of food and scarcity.
All hands on board
We can’t put all the blame on the government. This might be the worst flood we will record in this country but we have the opportunity to make it just that and not more. We need to clear blocked drains and detest from digging holes in roads, burning bushes, cutting down trees, littering the seas and rivers and other environment damaging activities.
We have so many NGO’s working towards this, I work with one, but no matter how we try to tell people they don’t listen. I hope this current situation is enough to persuade everyone to turn a new leaf.
Going forward, let’s try as much as possible to help those affected by this, a cloth, food, and money can go a long way in helping. Once I get to school I will try to locate the welfare units and see if they are accepting help concerning the situation.
To know more about how bad the situation is you can check this tweet (thread) by the famous Twitter influencer Rinu (Warning: The contents are not so nice). You can also read this article by the UK times.
Also, please remember to pray for Nigeria.
Thanks for Reading!💚🤍💚