Flooding May Sink N’Delta – UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says rising flood level occasioned by climate change may sink the Niger Delta region of Nigeria within the next few years.
This was contained in a report titled: “Niger Delta on Flood Alerta” released by the organiSation in 2016.
The report said that the rising sea level could force hundredS of thousands of Niger Delta to relocate to safe environment as a result of the impending disaster.
According to the report, “the sea level is rising.The Flood prone communities are apprehended with thought of relocating to safer cities, following a prediction by the United Nations that an estimated number of hundreds of thousands of people are prone to the effects of colossal flooding this year.
It further said that both the international and local communities are jittery as climate change has wrecked havoc in the Niger Delta with floods, droughts and rise in temperature and food deficiency.
The organisation also advocated the need for countries to concoct forceful programmes to calculate and react to floods,  in order to diminish their crash by systematizsing prevention, improve planning and speedy reaction times.
“The UN believes that such programmes will also help reprieve agencies synchronise aid allocation more efficiently.”
Reacting to the report in an interview with The Tide an environmentalist, Mrs Emem Okon said that the report is a wake up call on the Nigerian government to work towards mitigating the impact of climate change on the citizenry.
Okon, who is the Executive Director of Women Initiative on Climate change said that the government can do this through the construction of dykes in the riverine communities as well as the dredging of rivers to ensure the free flow of waters.
She also urged the government to put in place measures towards ending gas flaring in the country.
Okon however regretted that the impact of climate change is more on women and children than the men.
Also reacting, another environmentalist, Mr. Kingsley U. Ozegbe regretted that since the report was released last year, both the federal and the various state governments have not taken any action to check rising cases of flooding in the country.
Ozegbe said that the recent flooding in Benue State and parts of the Niger Delta has revealed that climate change is real.
He said that Nigeria which is a signatory to many international conventions on climate change must work towards reducing its impacts on the people.