The Flood Disaster Caused By Camerounian Dam.

LEADERSHIP EDITORIAL

The deluge ravaging several parts of Nigeria was worsened penultimate Saturday (August 25, 2012) by the release of water from Lagdo Dam in northern Cameroun by the Camerounian authorities, which led to the submerging of many riverine settlements in 11 local government areas of Adamawa State in the north-east geopolitical zone of Nigeria. At least three people were reportedly killed and thousands of families displaced. About 3,000 internally displaced persons have been camped across the state and are receiving relief materials.
As in many aspects of our national life, the Adamawa flood has been attributed to negligence. The minister of water resources, Mrs Stella Ochekpe, confirmed this while fielding questions from State House correspondents in Abuja at the end of the weekly Federal Executive Council  (FEC) meeting. She said that successive governments have failed to construct a buffer dam in Adamawa.
It is a shame that while Nigerian governments spend billions of naira on inconsequential projects from time to time, they have often failed to attend to sensitive and important projects such as this, knowing full well the risk such failure to act poses to the citizens who live there.
The report that the Camerounian government notified the relevant Nigerian authorities prior to the decongestion of the dam and the failure of the Nigerian stakeholders, notably the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Adamawa State, to evacuate the people before the unfortunate incident is a big blow to our sense of humanity. In other climes where value is placed on human life, an emergency camp would have been constructed for the people before the catastrophe.
Mrs. Ochekpe’s pledge that President Jonathan’s administration was ready to conduct a feasibility study as a preamble to constructing a buffer dam should be translated into action now. The federal government must find a permanent solution to the Lagdo Dam-inflicted flood by constructing a dam in Adamawa State that will reduce and manage the volume of water released annually from Lagdo Dam. Also, water channels that link Nigeria with the dam should be dredged.
Traditional rulers have a big role to play in emergency communication. They should be mobilised to sensitise their various communities on the implications of certain bad habits that may lead to flooding Besides, a warning of every environmental issue should be extended to them. Nigerians will not forgive the policy-makers of today if they allow the Adamawa flood or any other flood ravaging the country to repeat itself next year or anytime in the future.