Opinion
Flood Disaster In Nigeria: Predictable Tragedy
Each year, Nigeria is struck by a disaster that has become so routine it barely shocks the national conscience anymore: devastating floods that displace thousands, destroy livelihoods, and cost the country billions in damages. From Lagos to Lokoja, Borno to Bayelsa, the story is the same—swollen rivers, submerged homes, lost farmland.
Children drop out of school as their homes or schools are flooded. Health crises follow, as stagnant water breeds Cholera and other waterborne diseases. Women and children bear disproportionate burdens, from increased caregiving duties to heightened vulnerability in overcrowded displacement camps.
Just last week, the country woke up to another flood disaster. Mokwa, a commercial hub in Niger State was swept away. About 200 lives were lost, 3,000 people were displaced, bridges washed away, families left heart broken.
The painful thing is that the meteorological agencies, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) usually issue annual warnings about impending floods but little or nothing will be done by both the authorities and the citizens to avert the disaster until it happens and everybody starts running helter skelter. At a press conference in Abuja on Tuesday, June 3, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, clearly stated that flood warnings were given but they were not adhered to.
Speaking against the speculations that Mokwa flood was caused by the release of water from Kainji and Jebba Dams, he said, “Nigerians would recall that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation through the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency in the 2025 Annual Flood Outlook on the 10th of April, 2025 predicted flooding in 19 LGAs of Niger State including Mokwa LGA.”
He also referred to the report of 2025 AFO, which indicated that 1,249 communities in 176 Local Government Areas in 33 States and the FCT fall within the High Flood Risk Areas, while 2,187 communities in 293 LGAs in 31 States, including the Federal Capital Territory, fall within the Moderate Flood Risk Areas.
Indeed, the floods in Nigeria are no longer unpredictable phenomena. Reports have it that in 2022, for example, over 600 lives were lost, 1.4 million people displaced, and over 200,000 homes damaged.
Crop-lands were washed away, leading to spikes in food prices and food insecurity. Infrastructure—already fragile—was further crippled. Subsequent years had similar reports. And yet, each year, State governments and citizens alike act surprised when the waters rise.
The causes of these floods are not mysterious. Climate change plays a role, with increasingly intense rainfall and rising sea levels. However, much of the devastation has been traced to human failings: poorly planned urban development, inadequate drainage systems, deforestation, and the mismanagement of river basins and dams.
For instance, the release of water from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam annually inundates many States across the country, especially when the Dasin Hausa Dam, meant to contain the excess flow, remains incomplete decades after it was conceptualised. Similarly, urban expansion in many cities of the country often encroaches on natural floodplains and wetlands, replacing them with concrete that prevents water absorption and channels run-off into homes and roads.
Experts have claimed that at the heart of the flood disaster in the nation lies a deeper governance problem. Environmental policy is fragmented, implementation is weak, and coordination between federal, state, and local governments is almost non-existent. Flood response is often reactive—focused on rescue and relief—rather than preventive. Agencies like the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMAs) are underfunded and overwhelmed. There is no better truth.
How many government agencies whose job is to prevent floods and other disasters do their jobs? Just like past floods in Nigeria, Mokwa flood has been largely attributed to unregulated buildings and construction activities, poor drainage infrastructure and the likes. And the question is, whose responsibility was it to ensure that these illegal buildings were not erected in the first place? Whose duty is it to ensure that refuse is disposed of properly and that defaulters are punished?
Of course, citizens are not to be exonerated from the blame. Many Nigerians find it difficult to obey rules. Many care less about the environment and they will be the first to cry woes when a disaster occurs. But the point remains that if the regulatory authorities do not wake up to their duties of ensuring that people comply with building codes and urban development guidelines, if they would rather collect money from developers and look the other way when water channels are covered with buildings, then, the floods so far seen might just be a child’s play.
It is high time the governments at all tiers and across all levels stopped seeing floods as seasonal inconveniences rather than existential threats. These authorities are quick to make promises in the aftermath of a flood, but once the waters recede, so does the urgency. Reports are written, funds are pledged, but structural action is rare. The cycle continues: warnings, inaction, disaster, aid appeals, and then silence—until the next year. How can this help the situation?
There is an urgent need for the completion of the Dasin Hausa Dam project in Adamawa State. Experts say that this dam, if functional, would serve as a buffer for the Lagdo Dam releases from Cameroon. The same goes with the need for rehabilitation and expansion of the country’s drainage systems, especially in urban centres. Most existing systems are outdated, clogged, or simply inadequate for today’s volume of rainfall.
Building codes and urban development guidelines must be enforced without compromise. State governments must stop the unchecked development on floodplains and demolish illegal structures that obstruct natural drainage. New developments must include adequate drainage systems, and environmental impact assessments must be mandatory and rigorously enforced.
Government should carry out resettlement programmes for people living in high-risk zones. It is not enough to announce that people living along river banks and flood prone areas should move to higher lands. Are provisions made for them to move and to settle on higher lands?
Also, early warning systems must go beyond press releases and scientific bulletins. They must translate into community-level awareness and preparedness. NEMA and SEMAs should partner with local governments, traditional institutions, and civil society to educate the public on flood risks and evacuation plans.
Community-based disaster response teams can be trained and equipped to act swiftly when floods occur. More importantly, simulations and drills should be conducted periodically, not just after disasters strike.
It is also important that the government, both state and federal, collaborate with the private sector to introduce subsidised flood insurance scheme, especially for farmers and small business owners who bear the brunt of flood damages.
Climate change is no longer an abstract threat; it is a daily reality. Federal and state governments must integrate climate resilience into all development policies. Ministries of Environment, Works, Water Resources, and Agriculture must collaborate to build climate-smart infrastructure.
This also includes reforestation projects, sustainable agriculture practices, and policies to reduce carbon emissions. Nigeria’s national climate adaptation plan must be updated and fully implemented, with budgetary allocations that reflect the seriousness of the problem.
Transparency in the use of emergency funds and infrastructure budgets is essential. Anti-corruption agencies should investigate diversion of funds meant for disaster preparedness and flood mitigation.
Nigeria’s flood disaster is now a national emergency that requires urgent, collective, and sustained action. We can no longer afford the complacency that treats annual floods as inevitable. The science is clear, the patterns are consistent, and the solutions are known. What is missing is the will to act.
A flood-resilient Nigeria is possible. It begins with planning, continues with investment, and is sustained by accountability. We must break the cycle of annual disaster and move toward a future where the rainy season is a blessing, not a curse.
President Bola Tinubu must be commended for approving the release of ?2 billion, 20 trucks of rice for victims. That will go a long way in helping them if they are not diverted by those in the chain of their release and distribution.
Calista Ezeaku
Opinion
Judicial Fraud And Land Grabbing

About six years ago, my client, a UK-based Nigerian widow, became the target of an audacious scheme orchestrated by a notorious syndicate of land grabbers operating under the guise of a land owning family in Ikeja, Lagos. Their objective was clear: to dispossess her of her rightful ownership of three plots of land situated behind the former Tasty Fried Chicken building on Opebi Road, Ikeja. In a disturbing abuse of judicial process, these individuals approached a Magistrate Court then at Ikeja Local Airport, and by misrepresentation and fraudulent manipulation, secured a writ of possession against my client. It appeared their strategy was anchored on the assumption that the rightful owner was deceased. However, unknown to them, my client was very much alive, she only passed on last year.
Following this fraudulent judgment, the land grabbers, aided by a lawyer with an infamous reputation in the Ikeja axis for such sharp practices, took swift and forceful possession of the land. They began advertising the property to prospective buyers, offering each plot for several millions of naira. Upon being alerted by my client’s tenants, I conducted a search and discovered that the defendants had surreptitiously instituted the action using one of their own as the purported adverse party, who did not contest possession. Realising the magnitude of the fraud, I promptly secured my client’s Certificate of Occupancy and filed an application for joinder and a motion to set aside the judgment, backed by robust documentary evidence and affidavits deposing to the true facts.
The defendants, in a desperate and laughable defence, relied on a purported judgment allegedly delivered in the 1920s, claiming global ownership of lands stretching from Ikeja to Agege. When pressed to produce a survey plan or other definitive means of delineating the land covered by such a judgment, they failed woefully. The supposed plan was neither attached nor frontloaded.Fortunately, the presiding Magistrate, a sharp, fearless, and principled judicial officer saw through the deception and set aside the judgment accordingly.
What followed was a calculated legal standoff. After some days passed, I anticipated that the defendants would file a notice of appeal along with a motion for stay of execution, I acted strategically: by 8:00 a.m. of that day, possession had been recovered, effectively foreclosing their efforts to frustrate justice. They served their notice of appeal and motion for stay by 9:00am as I had anticipated.
Predictably, they resorted to harassment by filing a spurious petition at the Lagos State Police Command, alleging trespass. When that failed, they escalated the matter to the Assistant Inspector General of Police at Zone 2, Onikan. However, following a comprehensive review of all court documents and the title records, the Assistant Commissioner of Police, an officer of commendable integrity, sternly warned the fraudulent parties and their counsel never to return with such frivolous claims. He also threatened legal consequences for presenting forged or misleading documents. Regrettably, such land-grabbing tactics are far from isolated. I am presently handling another similar matter at the High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja Judicial Division. In this case, a property owner based in Jos, who has been in undisturbed possession of his land since before the Nigerian Civil War, was excluded from a suit for possession. The Plaintiffs falsely claimed adverse possession and obtained judgment using a family member as a nominal defendant. This is a land that had been returned to the owner (my client) by the Lagos State Government post-war, after a temporary wartime acquisition.
That matter is ongoing, and we remain confident that justice will again prevail. These cases serve as stark reminders of how certain individuals exploit procedural loopholes, such as substituted service and fictitious defendants, to perpetrate judicial fraud. It is common practice for notices of service to be pasted at the premises at odd hours, quickly photographed, and removed before anyone notices, thereby fabricating compliance with due process. This modus operandi, if not checked, undermines the integrity of our justice system. It may very well explain the plight Mr. Peter Obi’s brother, whose reported dispossession, despite a valid Certificate of Occupancy and long-standing possession, calls for judicial scrutiny and legal redress. While the wheels of justice may turn slowly, they remain capable of grinding exceedingly fine, provided legal practitioners act with diligence, and judicial officers remain vigilant and impartial.
There is a compelling need to amend our procedural rules regarding the use of unnamed or unknown persons as defendants in land litigation. Courts, both at High Court and Magistrate level – should be mandated to conduct locus in quo inspections where defendants are purportedly unknown or where substituted service is claimed. Such reforms will deter fraudulent practices and restore public confidence in the judiciary.In conclusion, let it be reaffirmed: the Nigerian legal system, though imperfect, is still a formidable instrument for the protection of property rights when wielded with integrity, precision, and tenacity.
Ubani, is a legal practitioner and public affairs analyst, Legal Advisor of Assemblies of God, Nigeria.
By: Monday Onyekachi Ubani
Opinion
Why Not Ban Alcohol Sachets?

As the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), contemplates banning the production, distribution and consumption of sachet alcoholic beverages across Nigeria, the move has raised mixed reactions among Nigerians and interest groups. According to NAFDAC the proliferation of sachet alcoholic beverages has been linked to abusive usage resulting in increased health complications, and drunk driving that causes road accidents. The Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) corroborates some of NAFDAC’s claims. FRSC records show that the 10,617 road accidents recorded in 2023 were due mostly to over speeding and drunk driving.
It is noteworthy that the availability of alcohol in less than 200ml PET bottles and in sachets, makes alcohol quickly consumable even during work hours. Without standardised packaging and regulatory labelling compliances, most of these sachet products are unregistered, come with questionable contents and form the bulk of illicit alcohol. Though lesser in volume, their high alcohol concentrations makes them highly intoxicating. Their ready availability at motor-parks, increase over-indulgence by commercial drivers, most of whom thereafter mount the wheels on low mental alertness.
Alcohol is known to reduce mental acuity and consciousness of the mind. Endowing its addicts with elixir feelings that momentarily blur reality, the alcohol effect additionally boosts self-rating and confidence, placing addicts on realms of happy possibilities where almost every dream is attainable, even if unrealistically. By the time the effect wanes addicts are known to be sad to face stark reality, which is why most are prone to retaking repeated doses to shoot themselves back to the fantasy world. Such fantasy is also the reason many youths and adults would rather invest daily in game-betting gambles than invest in micro innovations that guarantee real economic advancements.
The dawn of neo-medicinal alcohol being marketed in sachets as herbal remedies for organ cleansing, aphrodisiacs, anti- malarial and diabetes cures, is drawing increasing patronage from gullible Nigerians, even as these claims remain medically questionable. Following the rising patronage, all shades of manufacturing quackery are currently cashing-out from the market. Because of the harmful health effects of quack products, it is no wonder that sicknesses relating to organ-damage and male impotency are on the increase. Apart from drunk-driving and the health risks posed by over-indulgence in alcohols, the precious time wasted by addicts in unproductive day-dreams, which should have been deployed to meaningful economic ventures, is also a concern. In times of economic difficulties, as presently facing many Nigerians, there is need for mental clarity to enable one articulate ways out of hardships.
These outcomes may have informed NAFDAC’s decision to pursue banning easily consumable volumes of alcohol. If the ban becomes successful, those who like alcoholic drinks would still enjoy them by taking bigger packs which are low in concentration. Bigger bottles are likely to be consumed at leisure times after work due to their sizes. At that point, most consumers must have spent a productive day, yet have time to enjoy some booze. NAFDAC’s decision to ban unhealthy, anti-productive alcohol packs should therefore be encouraged. It is however, unfortunate that even as NAFDAC had set a long-term goal to achieve the ban, from as far back as 2018, through the then Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Folorunsho Adewole, and had engaged manufacturers on a five-year phase-out plan, the ban has failed to materialise. This is despite the signing of a five-year moratorium document between the Distillers and Blenders Association of Nigeria (DIBAN) and the Association of Food and Beverage & Tobacco Employers (AFBTE) on one hand, and the Ministry of Health, NAFDAC and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (ECCPC), on the other.
Recall that same year, the minister had out-rightly banned over-the counter use of codeine syrups following a BBC documentary on the consequences of its abusive use in Nigeria. NAFDAC’s inability to check the indiscriminate use of sachet alcohol years after the expiration of the signed moratorium highlights how vested interests may stifle good institutional objectives. It becomes worrisome when the pressure on NAFDAC to shelve the ban on harmful alcohol is coming through a hallowed institution, like the House of Representatives. NAFDAC had swiftly introduced the ban on February 1, 2024 after the expiration of the five-year moratorium. But no sooner had the House come upon it to lift the ban. At the moment, the ban stands temporarily lifted till December 2025 even as lobbies intensify.
For the house to claim that “the ban was ill-timed because of the current economic conditions, staggering unemployment, soaring inflation and high rate of poverty,” it raises many questions about the rationale of members of the house, considering the correlation between alcohol addiction and the inability to exit poverty. Members of the legislature should be from the finest minds who go for the sublime. Why would members of the House choose to endorse a situation that is currently ensnaring many into addiction and anti-social behaviours, than safeguard societal sanity? Even as members of the house argue that sachet alcohol sales is sustaining some micro businesses, the anti-social behaviour and health risks engendered by such sales out-weigh any derivable economic benefits.
Opponents of the ban who support the house may also argue that the ban targets low-income earners who patronise sachet products due to affordability, and may further point out that substitutes of other herbal/alcoholic concoctions being marketed as health remedies are available through unregulated markets. Bowing to such arguments would mean that NAFDAC should choose a defeatist position, wherein it has been overwhelmed at discharging its core mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation. As NAFDAC mediates through legislative challenges and lobby groups, members of the executive should bear on the assembly to allow the institution pursue its core goals. Not doing so would be to build a nation of drunkards, where lunatics roam the streets.
By: Joseph Nwankwor
Opinion
Why Reduce Cut-Off Mark for C.O.E ?
-
News3 days ago
NUJ Hails Sirawoo’s Redeployment To Rivers Information Ministry
-
Business3 days ago
Abia Takes Over Electricity Supply In 8 LGAs
-
Politics3 days ago
WHY I SEE NO REASON FOR MORE STATES IN NIGERIA — OZEKHOME
-
Politics3 days ago
Anambra Guber: Ex-minister Endorses Soludo For Second Term
-
Opinion3 days ago
Judicial Fraud And Land Grabbing
-
Niger Delta3 days ago
C’River Urges experts to explore new technologies to transform agriculture
-
News3 days ago
Crisis Brews in Amadi-Ama Community Over CDC
-
Oil & Energy3 days ago
Oil Sector Slowdown’ll Threaten 2025 Budget Execution – NESG