Fear of Flood Grips Abakaliki Residents, as NEWMAP Flood Intervention Projects Rot Away
According to a United Nation’s (UN) report on recent floods in our country, “Nigeria’s rainy season extends from April-October, making it particularly prone to flooding, which has become more severe in recent years.” That report was about the recent flood disaster in Mokwa Niger State that washed away thousands of homes, schools, clinics and other public facilities. It will be recalled that about 1000 persons were also killed or unaccounted for after the disaster. Each year, floods continue to heighten in severity and impact.
In 2024, a substantial part of Borno State, including the state capital, Maidugiri was submerged in an unprecedented flood that devastated the state, wiped off the economy and left in its aftermath a desolate land that has not recovered and may not recover in a decade.
About two weeks ago, the Nigerian Metrological Agency (NiMET) issued early warning alerts on 20 states that may need to relocate its people to avoid floods within the 2025 rainy season.
The states classified as “high-risk” include, Kaduna, Zamfara, Yobe, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Jigawa, Adamawa, Taraba, Niger, Nasarawa, Benue, Ogun, Ondo, Lagos, Delta, Edo, Cross River, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Sokoto.
Even though Ebonyi State has not been categorised as a “high-risk” flood prone state, we are all living witnesses to the disaster that struck parts of the state in 2024 when five local government of the state were dismantled by floods.
According to a Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) report authored by the UN International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in 2024, “39 locations in Ebonyi State that were impacted by floods or received internally displaced persons (IDPs) due to the flooding.”
According to the report, “in the four local government areas (LGAs) of Ebonyi State that were assessed, the joint assessment team identified 283,055 individuals in 56,619 households affected by the floods. These individuals included IDPs displaced by the floods and residents impacted by the floods but remained in their communities.”
The above information really calls for action by then Ebonyi State Government led by Governor Ogbonna Nwifuru as the rainy season begins its gradual peak.
Although Ebonyi State has been very lucky as a beneficiary of the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) programme funded by the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) of the World Bank which led to the intervention that “channelized” Iyi Udene flood site, Odunukwe Nkaliki-Hatchery road flood site, Iyiokwu–International market flood site and Ebia river flood site, the state still currently faces serious threats from floods.
For perspective, the above-mentioned projects which gulped billions of Naira have been left to rot away by the state government as the erosion control projects have been abandoned to weeds and have become refuse dumping sites. From Azuiyioku, Ogbaga Road (old Kpirikpiri), Odunukwe, Nnodo etc, the channels have been overgrown by weeds making water flow impossible in addition to the health hazards posed by the accumulating refuse and dirt.
This unfortunate action has left many communities including Azuiyioku, Unagboke and Azugwu all in Abakaliki LGA currently under severe flood threats.
Other parts of Abakaliki city like Ogbaga Road, back of the CAS campus of the Ebonyi State University are also threatened.
It is important that the state government take immediate and decisive action to prevent unnecessary emergencies and possible attendant loss of property and lives by clearing the waterways, properly desilt the gutters and generally improve on the environmental health of the state.
In Ebonyi State, the state government seem to have restricted the work and powers of its ministry of environment to the harassment of residents under the guise of “environmental sanitation” an archaic practice that has seen been scrapped in other progressive societies.
It is also important that the work of the environment ministry reach all the local governments and communities in the state.
The quantum of degradation ongoing in Ebonyi State under the guise of mining is simply CRIMINAL!
It is also appalling that in 2025, Ebonyi State Government is still encouraging its people to dump their refuse on the roads! There are no collection containers and certainly no technology driven-refuse management system in place.
I therefore, use this medium to call on Governor Ogbonna Nwifuru, the Commissioner for Environment, Commissioner for Health, and other relevant offices and statekeholders in Ebonyi State to “Make Hay While the Sun Shines” as we all know that an stitch in time will save nine!
Moses Idika can be reached on: maziidika@yahoo.com
