Mokwa flood as a warning signal

Mokwa and other nearby communities in Niger State are still bleeding profusely from the flood disaster of May 28, 2025, which took about 200 lives (with about 500 still missing), demolished 265 homes, damaged 3,000 others and rendered over 5,000 individuals refugees in their home towns.

This tragedy could have been avoided if our governments at all levels and the citizenry, especially communities lying close to our major rivers, took the necessity for modern urban planning and administration with the seriousness they deserve.

In recent years, the Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies, MDAs, responsible for weather forecasts, aerospace management and flood disasters have been very proactive and constant in their annual flood predictions. The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NiMET, does it twice – at the beginning and towards the end of rainy seasons.

The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, unfolded his ministry’s Annual Flood Outlook, AFO, in Abuja, warning that 2,187 communities in 293 local government areas in 31 states would experience moderate to severe flooding in 2025. Also, the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency, NIHSA, warned that 1,249 communities in 176 LGAs in 33 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja, would face high risk of flooding.

That these numbers spewed out by these federal bodies remain extremely high each year shows that our government is “all talk and no action” when it comes to prevention and remediation of flood disasters. Indeed, it seems that government officials at all levels sit back after the warnings and wait for disasters to happen, knowing that, as we’ve just seen in the Mokwa tragedy, “money will flow”.

Nobody knows how much of the N2bn pledged for the rebuild of Mokwa will actually go into the rebuild programme. Our penchant to “throw money at” disasters merely oils the wheel of corruption and provides opportunities for problems to recur. This is incompetent and corrupt governance. And this will continue until we do what other serious countries do: plan and execute to prevent tragedies and protect the people.

We condemn the tendency of state and local governments in flood-prone areas to sit on their palms and wait for the Federal Government to spoon-feed them. Flood prevention and control is a job for everybody, including the citizens. The fact that the citizens are directly impacted should spur them to readily join the effort.

But the government must lead the way because it has the full legislative, executive and judicial powers. Flood control and management should be a year-round activity. We should use the dry season to prepare for the rainy season so that when the rains come, damage from flooding will be mitigated. The August/September/October floods are still coming, especially for those living alongside big rivers and flood channels.

Let Mokwa serve as a timely warning signal!