By: Dr Inenyo Esinte
Global environmental events and outcomes have been on a negative trajectory over the last decades as a consequence of global warming and climate change affecting every country on earth with environmental disasters such as floods, wildfires, ocean encroachment, desertification, drought, famine, extreme temperatures and more adversely threatening and affecting the peaceful and serene coexistence of man and his environment.
The current spade and cascade of environmental calamities bedevilling humanity the world over is a product and consequence of man’s undue, unfriendly and unhealthy dominance, exploitation, misuse and abuse of the environment without regard to the principle of sustainable development.
While the environment was meant to be a safe haven and abode for man, man is also expected and required to safeguard the environment and protect it with utmost care and concern, hence it’s a reciprocal responsibility and the law of garbage in garbage out applies in the relationship between man and his environment.
The environment gives back to man what man gave to it abinitio, thus all the environmental woes experienced by man are reciprocal gestures of how unfriendly man has been to his environment decades past.
Floods are now recurrent annual environmental disasters in most parts of the world and Nigeria has also in recent years experienced the devastating effects of frequent floods, especially during the rainy season with immense harm to lives and properties, private and public infrastructure alike.
Nigeria like several other flood-affected and impacted countries, has lost a great number of human and animal lives, huge damage and destruction of private and public infrastructure to the ravaging effects of floods annually and the untoward socioeconomic hardship it brings to Nigerians is now becoming an annual sad tales for reminiscence post floods as people count their losses.
While agencies such as NEMA and NiMeT perform their statutory obligations by coming up with proactive yearly weather forecasts and outlooks and timely release of early warning systems and information to the public for preventive actions at private and public levels to mitigate the negative impacts of floods, there is need to take some steps further and make concerted environmentally friendly, innovative, flood resilient and resistant measures and result oriented solutions to the menace of recurrent floods and its devastating effects in Nigeria.
At individual, private and public capacity, a new challenge of recurrent annual floods is before us all now, seeking answers and solutions, can we stand up to the challenge or shift the responsibility to future generations?
The annual recurrence of devastating floods in recent times is a wake-up call for everyone, including federal, state and local governments across board, to think out of the box, establish purposeful partnerships and come up with innovative ways and means of solving the problem of recurrent floods begging and yearning for a permanent solution.
To experts in the field of civil, structural, environmental engineering and architecture, there is a great challenge before you to come up with innovative ideas and partner with government at all tiers and respective environmental protection agencies, private and public alike to find lasting solutions to the recurrence of devastating floods in Nigeria.
We must begin to build and construct flood-resistant and resilient public infrastructure such as roads, bridges and housing that will stand the hydrological challenge of ravaging floods, it cannot be business as usual if we expect to get different results moving forward.
Individuals and private entities must also imbibe the culture of environmental friendliness, be innovative and build environmentally friendly, flood-resistant infrastructure such as housing and roads moving forward.
The incidents of recurrent floods are environmental catastrophe of our generation, hence we must brace up and proffer sustainable solutions to this hydrological menace and not shy away from our responsibilities or fail to come up with proven solutions and not pass the responsibility to future generations for which we are unsure of the magnitude of the floods in future and if future generations will survive possibly more devastating floods.
We must all act responsibly now to save our future, our planet, our only home. QThis is a looming hydrological apocalypse.
Thank you.
