Evaluating Nigeria's emergency response system 62 years after independence

All over the world countries are confronted by various natural disasters which come in different magnitudes.

Some of the disasters are earthquakes, wild fires, tsunami (usually as a result of high magnitude earthquake), hurricane, typhoon, volcanic eruptions and landslide.

In Nigeria, flooding, fire outbreaks, building collapse and conflict-induced disasters are the most common.

Displaced persons are often exposed to varying degrees of needs such as clothing, shelter, food, medication and even money.

Fatima Usman and her three children; Halima, Usman and Nana Khadija, woke up at Magume village in Zaria Local Government in Kaduna state, on a beautiful Sunday morning, filled with hope and optimistic of all good things of life.

Little did they know that their lives would be cut short by a ravaging flood resulting from a heavy rainfall that would take their lives at 8 P.M that day.

Usman and her children died after her husband, Malam Jamilu Usman, left their house for a nearby patent medicine store to buy drugs shortly before the rain started.

Unfortunately, before his return, the house was already flooded following the downpour and the deceased were drowned despite frantic efforts by neighbours to save them.

Similarly, in July three siblings from the same family lost their lives to flooding in Lagos.

Micheal 18; Elizabeth 17 and Timi 14, were residing at a church building belonging to Mercy of Christ Apostolic Church, situated in an uncompleted building.

The siblings were swept away while trying to relocate from their room to the main church structure.

The youngest among them, Timi, who was asthmatic had tried to climb the plank linking their room to the church building.

Timi slipped and was overwhelmed by the flood. The remaining two while trying to rescue their siblings, were also swept away by the flood.

These are examples of many cases of how people continue to lose their lives to yearly flooding in the country.

This type of disaster is common in many parts of Nigeria, in particular, among communities living on the river banks where it easy for water level to rise during heavy rains

Those who live in reclaimed re-claimed swampy areas such as in Lagos are also prone to flooding after heavy rains.

Although it is true that the two factors play roles in such natural disasters, analysts believe that climate change and human induced causes also contribute.

Some of the most common man-made factors include poor town planning practices, lack of drainage systems, among others.

Others believe that unlike some natural disasters, rainfall flooding can be controlled with proper planning and provision of necessary infrastructure.

The Federal Government, through the NEMA, NiMet and other relevant agencies yearly, releases the Annual Flood Outlook and Seasonal Climate Prediction Reports for various states and stakeholders to prepare ahead of any eventuality.

This warning is usually followed by advisory letters and maps showing predicted flood risk areas in various local government areas in identified states, to the respective state governments.

However, despite the increased enlightenment and sensitisation campaigns by the federal government, flood disasters have continued to ravage so many communities in different states.

The reasons being that these warning are largely ignored by people living in the identified areas or government agencies responsible to enforce the warning do not dutifully carry out their functions.

For instance, Mr Mustapha Ahmed, Director-General, National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said that flooding had killed more than 300 persons, injured 500 and displaced 100,000 others in the last eight months.

"The flood disaster has affected 29 states, including the Federal Capital Territory", Ahmed said at a recent event.

Similarly, Save the Children, an international NGO, in a report released on Sept. 15, revealed that no fewer than 150,000 people, of which about half are children, have been severely affected by floods in Niger and Nigeria in recent weeks.

According to the report, since early July, intense rainfall had affected communities along the Niger-Nigeria border, triggering flooding which had washed away or damaged at least 14,900 homes.

To tackle this reoccurring incidence, disaster experts agree that states and local council authorities must also play preventive roles.

Mr Micheal Fadairo, an Environmental Expert, said that states should step up the monitoring of building sites to ensure that those without approvals were stopped from being constructed.

"It is also important for them to discourage illegal construction of buildings on waterways, establish an environmental task force to monitor the cleanup of drainage systems so as to allow free flow of water.

"Just like what was done in Lagos state recently where persons caught throwing refuse in drainages were arrested and charged to court, other states should also emulate such to serve as a deterrent to others.

"It is up to the states to do their best by ensuring that the natural environment is not obstructed to free flow of water," he added.

Prof. Jaiye Dukiya suggested that the law establishing National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) should be revisited, to provide them with some level of authority over the states.

Dukiya, a lecturer with the Federal University of Technology, FUT Minna, said that it was important for the country and the states in particular to be proactive than reactive, in their approach to the issue of flooding.

"What we are having majorly in Nigeria can be tied to two sources, which is, the river flooding and the human induced urban flooding.

"Presently the country has the National Disaster Policy Framework, which backs the establishment of NEMA and States Emergency Management agencies (SEMA).

"Unfortunately, the other sub-section of the framework is not effective as they should be.

"We are meant to have the Local Government Emergency Management Committees, but they are non-existent in some states. NEMA cannot be everywhere in the country at the same time, he said.

However, NEMA Director-General Mr Mustapha Ahmed says the agency has performed creditably and remains committed to making life easier for Nigerians in times of crisis.

He spoke at the weekend during a working visit to the Kano Territorial office of NEMA.

He said the agency was conscious of the need to train its staff and modernise its operations to meet international standards.

However, as the country celebrates its 62nd anniversary, experts say emergency response mechanism should be all encompassing as it transcends distribution of relief materials.

A former, Commissioner for Health, Lagos State, Dr Jide Idris one area that should be addressed is medial supply during emergency situations.

He said that Nigeria does not stockpile materials necessary for responding to emergencies and this has deterred adequate response to outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging diseases like coronavirus.

Speaking at a one-day infectious diseases emergency preparedness workshop for health personnel and policymakers by Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET), Idris, said Nigeria only starts response when an outbreak of disease has claimed lives..

He called for the stockpiling of medical materials including drugs, vaccines and consumables, as essential part of long term preparedness for disease outbreak.

As Nigeria celebrates 62 years of independence, it is important that policy makers, stakeholders partner to review Nigeria's emergency response mechanism with a view to making it more efficient.