For Nigeria to achieve political and socio-economic stability, the Federal and state governments must of necessity tackle the perennial flooding, food crisis exacerbated by increasing prices of staple food items, insecurity, environmental and climate change crisis as well as frontally address the demands of #EndBadGovernance protesters.
A group of ecological activists, the Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), stated this at the end of their four-day retreat in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, lamenting that the floods ravaging the northern part of the country and which they said was cascading towards the south, have assumed disturbing dimensions that require huge financial interventions and drastic measures to be contained before the entire country went down under the flood waters.
In a communiqué signed by Executive Director and Chairman, Board of EDEN, Barrister Chima Williams and Secretary of the Board, Philip Jakpor, the group said while it commends the pro-activeness of the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) for its early warning systems and prediction of weather conditions, it was disturbing that at the federal and state levels, interventions have been anything but preemptory in addressing perennial flooding in the country.
“The severe flooding in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital after the collapse of the Alau Dam shows how unserious the response agencies are in preventing avoidable fallouts of floods. We commiserate with the people and call on the state emergency management agency to work collaboratively with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) in addressing the challenges occasioned by the incident.
“It is pertinent to note also that while the federal government has kept sealed lips on the status of the Dasin Hausa Dam, which is conceived to address flooding caused by the Lagdo Dam in Cameroun, the state governments, despite huge ecological funds they collect every year, put at about N40 billion, continue to fail Nigerians during their time of need when the heavens open up.
“With an estimated N300 billion collected by the state governments between 2017 and the present as ecological funds Nigerians still battle with blocked water channels, blocked canals, unavailable shelters to house flood-displaced persons, and hectares of arable farmlands inundated yearly resulting to high cost of available food.
“In 2024 we learnt about N39 billion from the Ecological Funds has been released to the 36 states of the federation and yet, there is nothing to suggest that those funds have been put to good use. We are yet to see the state governments setting up resilient shelters to temporarily house flood-displaced persons or procurement of choppers or speed boats to access remote areas cut off by flood waters,” the communiqué reads.
It further states: “In similar vein we are yet to witness any dignified approach to the distribution of palliatives to flood displaced persons other than crude approaches that allow public officials to divert the palliatives. There is still no synergy between NEMA and their state counterparts to ensure effective and efficient interventions in the prevention and mitigation of flooding. For instance we are at a loss as to why NEMA and their state counterparts in the Niger Delta are yet to act on the prediction that there would be monster floods in the region.
“We are using this medium to demand proactive peremptory actions by the NEMA in collaboration with their state partners in addressing the perennial flooding. We frown at NEMA listing among its accomplishments the distribution of rice to displaced persons when it should be telling Nigerians how many choppers, speed boats and shelters it has set up to assist flood victims. Why this obsession with rice distribution among government agencies? Is it because they can easily be diverted?”
The group also maintained Nigerians were in order in their #EndBadGovernance protesters adding that it was within their rights to demand good governance, especially as they are regaled daily with reports of stealing of public funds and the ostentatious life style of government officials and politicians irrespective of their political affiliations.
While poor and suffering Nigerians are told to make sacrifices and tighten their belts further in our journey to Eldorado, they hear and read about humongous amounts of money politicians waste on frivolous trips, projects that have no bearing on the citizenry and other forms of primitive acquisition of wealth.
On the incessant increases in fuel prices, the group argued that it amounted to a betrayal of the Nigerians people that while the Federal Government has yet to commence the payment of the agreed N70,000 minimum wage, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has hastily effected another fuel price hike.
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“Nigerians are now buying fuel for between N1,000 and N1,500, a development which has unleashed another chain of increases of basic services such as transportation cost and food prices across board. The government has through this action showed that it is not ready to listen to Nigerians.
“Because of this, we join all well-meaning lovers of this country to demand an immediate reversal of the pump price of fuel to the pre-inauguration price. Anything short of this smacks of insensitivity to the genuine wishes of Nigerians to live and earn a decent income. It is also recipe for more protests across the country,” added.
Expressing concerns over the worsening insecurity across the country, it recalled that during President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s inaugural address on Monday, May 29, 2023, he promised Nigerians that the dire security situation in the country especially the terrorism in the north east would be addressed headlong. EDEN lamented that over a year after that promise we are yet to notice any pro-active response to the insecurity menace ravaging the land.
It further urged the government to clean up Ogoniland and the Niger Delta region in line with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) recommendations, adding that the cleanup exercise continues to stall due to administrative bureaucracy.
“We cannot close our eyes to the sustained assault on the environment in oil bearing communities in the Niger Delta. Oil spills are now happening at much more frequency in different states of the Niger Delta than in previous administrations. As we speak, locals in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State are still apprehensive over a recent spill into their waters.
“About 29 communities are said to have been affected while the marine ecosystem has been heavily polluted. Bayelsa State is still holding the record as the most oil-impacted state in the federation and in the Niger Delta.
On climate change, the group argued that contrary to the claim by successive governments about their efforts in reducing gas flares in Nigeria, the reality remains that the flares have continued to grow and in the process communities suffer from acid rain, lung illnesses and the terrorism of experiencing no night as their environment are lit up by the toxic cocktail emitted into the atmosphere.
“Beyond the noxious emissions, Nigeria loses over $3 billion in wastage of harness-able natural gas annually. At the policy level we are yet to observe any tangible manifestation of the work of the National Council on Climate Change over three years after its inauguration under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
“This leads us to believe that either the council does not know its work or its members lack the competence to drive the climate campaign. We urge the government to harmonize the different policies on climate change and bring all relevant stakeholders including civil society into reckoning in addressing the climate crisis,” the communiqué concluded.
