Humanity has come to understand that there are some acts or occurrences which are unpredictable and are uncontrollable, which we generically term as acts of God. These include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, floods, windstorms, and some climatic conditions beyond our control. But we must not allow these disastrous occurrences to overwhelm us to the extent that they result to numerous losses of lives and physical assets, because as humans we should be able to take necessary steps and precautions to mitigate their impact.
The quest for knowledge is predicated on the fact that God the creator has equipped humanity with wisdom and the capacity to challenge and confront any adverse encounters within the environment. The ability to accomplish this effort depends on the degree of our capacity to eliminate ignorance and ensure the continuous search for knowledge. For example, rainfall and sunshine are both acts of God, and for us to avoid any of their negative impact, we must seek for shelter; and that is why we build houses and provide roofs to cover them, for our protection. That is a form of mitigation, even though in that building scenario we are considering a relatively more simplistic approach to combating an act of God, as opposed to confronting more disastrous forms such as an earthquake, or volcanic eruption or flooding.
The very recent flooding which occurred in Mokwa, Niger State, and that which happened in Maiduguri, Borno State much earlier, or flooding in any other part of this country, are cases that demand our serious attention, intervention and prevention. Our collective action must go beyond just terming such occurrences as an act of God, and throwing up our hands in despair, or towing the reactive stance of provision of palliatives to temporarily cushion the negative impact on the affected communities. We must begin to invoke and deploy all relevant mitigation factors that will, in future, prevent the extent of losses of lives and assets as recorded during and after the flooding which we have so far experienced.
We should therefore begin to ask ourselves some basic and germane questions with regard to floodplain management, and these ought to include whether we have in place any floodplain management practices such as zoning regulations and physical flood-control infrastructure? An early warning system is also desirous, since this can help us to detect any unusual rise in water levels and alert contiguous communities of imminent potential flooding. Identification and classification of flood-prone areas should be periodically undertaken, and as a proactive measure, these areas should qualify for flood-control infrastructure such as levees, dams, and floodwalls, to protect the communities. Our town and urban planners must also be brought in here to help and establish sustainable land-use planning methods which will guarantee land-use practices such as preserving wetlands and avoiding any development in high-risk areas.
These mitigation strategies which have been listed above are all aimed at risk reduction, infrastructure resilience, community preparedness and a general alertness to prepare for climatic variables. But these cannot be effective where Local Government governance machinery is not adequate. The state governments must understand that the local masses are the people who bear the brunt of underdevelopment most, and should therefore appreciate the relevance of that tier of government. At the federal level the various functionaries of the ministries, departments and agencies should also endeavour to periodically tour these rural areas to fully comprehend the in situ prevalent conditions. They should not be seen to merely rely on the traditional doctored reports from officials who cook up such flowery reports of “no problem” in order to satisfy their bosses, so as to retain their jobs. Effective proactive measures to combat or mitigate acts of God are a litmus test of the seriousness which any government places on the overall safety of life and physical assets of its citizenry. Nigeria must come to terms with this reality.
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