FLOODING: Humanity First, Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Needed, Not Politics… IHRC urges

Agency Report

The 2022 flooding experienced in the country is intense and has been confirmed as Nigeria’s worst flood disaster in a decade, and it is increasingly becoming worse than those of 2012 and 2018.

After a participatory and damage assessment aimed to enhance national and global efforts to mitigate flooding effects in Nigeria which took place on 7th October 2022 at Kogi State by the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC), the Ambassador at Large and Head of Diplomatic Mission Nigeria, Dr. Duru Hezekiah said: “I am deeply distressed by the scope of devastation and suffering that has befallen on Nigerians by the rising floodwaters which have recorded human and material losses with several homes submerged by floods in Kogi, Anambra, Bauchi, the Gombe States among others”.

“Apart from submerging houses and farmlands, critical infrastructures such as schools, healthcare centers, police stations, banks, offices were also affected; a situation that made the state governments shut down schools in the riverine areas”.

It is undoubtedly imperative that the Federal, State and Local governments share the responsibility for protecting their citizens from disasters, and for helping them to recover when a disaster like this strikes. In these cases, however, the disaster requires a more comprehensive approach, disaster relief, and emergency assistance void of political, ethnic, or religious discrimination to effectively support state and local governments and their citizens.

Expressing dissatisfaction over prolonged interventions by the government to find a lasting solution to this seasonal flooding in Nigeria, Duru asserted that amidst the overwhelming disaster, it is inhumane and deteriorating for politicians vying for different political offices in the 2023 general elections to disregard the hardship imposed on citizens by the rising floodwaters while focusing only on their political activities.

He lamented the Nigerian economy is dwindling, healthcare is diminishing, ravaging hunger, as commuters and means of transportation of goods and services are being stuck and stranded in the traffic gridlock on different Nigerian highways resulting from the flooding. “It is creatively challenging to hear politicians inducing how to win the forthcoming elections and not telling us how to win a ravaging pandemic that perhaps attracts a declaration of a national state of disaster”, he added.

“We, therefore, have a serious and humanitarian tragedy on our hands that urgently requires our collective help in mitigating the effects by providing aid to individuals and households; aid to repair or replace disaster-damaged public facilities like schools and healthcare facilities, and hazard mitigation assistance for funding measures designed to reduce future losses to public and private property. A coming together of a people to address a course that has respect for the fundamental human rights of Nigerians is more important now than any political campaign.

While affirming that Kogi and other affected States are not alone on this, the Ambassador at Large commended Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State,

The National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria (NEMA), and State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) for their efforts in cushioning the impact, he urged States to make available to the public a toll-free telephone number in their situation rooms with the task of coordinating responses and obtaining urgent disastrous cases.

“In our compassionate plea as an Intergovernmental Diplomatic Organization, we hereby appeal to other International Agencies; the IFAD, EU, NEWMAP and others to come to our aid”.

“I also urge Governors to be accessible and flexible in accepting proposals and partnerships aimed at providing appropriate actions and implementation of participatory emergency plans when made”, he hinted.