Are we also numb to flooding?

It’s difficult to say the exact time in our history when apathy became a national pastime. One thing is certain, though. As a people, we’re fast losing our capacity to deploy passion whenever it is needed to actualise critical corporate objectives. We increasingly appear helpless and aloof when confronted with occurrences that used to shock us, at least. If we have become very philosophical in the way we perceive and react to otherwise traumatic situations, where did that stoicism come from? In recent times, some persons have expressed worries about the rather passive ways Nigerians respond to news of deaths caused by terrorists, bandits, kidnappers and other violent criminals. And to think that these merchants of grief and bloodshed only thrust themselves into prominence not too long ago.

At a personal level, psychologists have clinical explanations for individuals who attempt to minimise the impact of misfortunes and calamities by first suppressing the magnitude of the harsh realities. So, not being emotionally involved at such points is therapeutic. When a country gets into a numbing mode, however, the reasons could range from resignation to outright self-defeat. In that condition, it is hard to mobilise the populace towards achieving common goals. Today, ours is a besieged nation, fiercely challenged by monsters which never masked their threats to invade the economy, polity and social space: Hyper-inflation. Ever-widening circle of penury. Crumbling currency. Sky-rocketing unemployment. Perennial insecurity. Worsening social amenities. Predatory political class. Uncertainty incorporated. And on and on.

Now, the flooding that has affected most parts of the country is being met largely with far less potent treatment, as if hoping that the evil would take its natural course and afterwards allow us to continue on our accustomed path of least resistance and feeble tackles. In writing this piece, I took my cue from a statement made last week by the Minister of Water Resources, Mallam Suleiman Adamu, while reacting to calls from local and international experts for a state of emergency to be declared to expedite action against what is clearly a monumental national tragedy. According to him, “It’s certainly an emergency situation but it all depends on what you mean by declaring state of emergency. We have not reached a situation in my view where the relevant emergency management authorities have not been able to deal with this situation. I’m not aware that has happened. We have governments, we have the federal government, we have state governments or state emergency management agencies and the Federal Emergency Agency. And I think they have not in any way said that they have been overwhelmed by what they have been doing.” Really, Honourable minister?

This is not the time to sweat over the semantics of ‘declaration’ of state of emergency but we can’t run away from the meanings that average citizens would read into the minister’s standpoint. The surface interpretation is that the calamity that has caught the attention of individuals and entities locally and outside Nigeria is not serious enough to necessitate the canvassed line of action. Well over 600 souls had already exited this world courtesy the current flooding before Adamu gave his rather unfortunate view, not to mention the thousands of people who were displaced and injured. Property worth billions of naira had been wasted. More than 30 states of the federation had also been negatively impacted by the crisis, with varying degrees of severity. Kogi, Benue, Anambra, Rivers, Bayelsa, Yobe, Adamawa, Cross River and Delta states took the lead in producing those frightening losses. Only few states have managed to stay above the scourge. Why on earth should any top officer of government miss a correct reading of such a disaster, not to talk of facilitating a timely and adequate response to it? True, relevant agencies of government have made efforts like provision of food and non-food items including survival kits, with differing outcomes, to ameliorate the sufferings of the mostly poor victims of the rage of the waters. But placing the national predicament at the zenith of official priorities in word and deeds would, no doubt, have helped in significantly reducing the volume of the harvests of woes recorded across the country, and still counting.

The fact that the government never lacked enough warning and informed counsel makes this lapse even more disturbing. World Bank predicted that this year’s flooding would push the population of Nigerians living below poverty line to 95.1 million before 2022 ends. It specifically warned that pre-existing phenomena like food insecurity, indigence and out-of-school children, particularly girls, would be compounded by the ferocious onslaught. And the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) specifically alerted the nation that approximately 20 million people would experience food shortages in at least 21 states and Abuja beginning from August this year. Equally available were notifications from competent non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Even without those cautions, the 2012 flooding, one of Nigeria’s worst cases, ought to have prepared us ahead. That year, over 360 persons died; nearly 2.5 million were dislodged; another 16 million were affected in various other ways; years of development strides were reversed, and the total material losses were put at about USD17billion. The consequences of widespread deluge are quite predictable, making excuses bland in many instances: Profound disruption of social, cultural and economic life. Direct threat to the sustainability of ongoing projects and programmes. Massive alteration and destruction of the environment. Large-scale damage of physical infrastructure. Hugely undermined health profiles of the people, among others. In the absence of any well-articulated flood management policy, the tribulations of those directly concerned are better imagined. It remains to be seen what the results of the order President Muhammadu Buhari has just given to the minister to map out workable plans to properly challenge flooding would be. Let’s hope the three months deadline will yield magical fruits, concrete engineering solutions to the avoidable, needless misery and casualties. Of course, Adamu needs no reminders that everywhere in the world, the management of water resources, during peaceful or catastrophic moments, is time-consuming and very costly.

I’m certainly not heaping all the blame for our present flood issues on the federal government. Many Nigerians have a penchant for living dangerously. As the minister pointed out, flooding can simply be a natural disaster in the mould of volcanoes and earthquakes. It can also be a by-product of human recklessness. What kind of sense does it make for people to build their homes on waterways and wish that they would somehow be spared in times of aquatic fury? Blocking drainages comes with a price, many times morbid. Not to talk of the tendency to ignore regenerative town planning regulations.

What is now clear from this wholesale drama of despair and death is that the government and people owe this country a duty to take bold preventive and restorative steps. Decrepit or non-existent drainage and waste management systems must be rectified and utilised. Freedom of movement of goods and persons doesn’t mean that urbanisation should be left to its own devices. Cities and towns can be run more efficiently if the number of people who pass through, stay or live in them can be ascertained. Laxity in terms of monitoring of basic rules has contributed greatly to this menace.

Whether it’s from Lagbo Dam in Cameroon, torrential rainfall or the sudden swelling of tributaries, water will always find its level. And when it does in the manner that has saddled millions of Nigerians with existential dilemmas, the best reactions shouldn’t be fatalism. Any temptation to apply the “Que sera sera, whatever will be will be” mindset, consciously or otherwise, to this all-conquering demon must be resisted.

Ekpe, PhD, is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board.