Flooding may be perennial in Nigeria but the present disaster has been described by witnesses and victims as the worst, leading to the death of over 600 persons.
The local people in the Niger Delta have their own ways of measuring the size and volume of flooding. They record the watermark on trees and walls and know which year is higher.
They also mark the spread from river banks to the upland and decide where to build houses. This year, they claimed, the water level surpassed both the horizontal and vertical spreads, chasing residents away to lands farther than estimated and killing people who could not flee.
In some states such as Bayelsa and Delta that are deeper into the coastal areas, water has swept away at least half of the communities. In Rivers State, it has affected four local councils.
By this, over one million small businesses have been swept away. It is thus estimated that the 2022 flooding is twice the size of that of 2012. Buildings, vehicles, stored foodstuff, shops and farmlands destroyed can only be measured in trillions of naira.
Rivers State government has set aside N1 billion to help the victims, and a committee was set up to handle the operations.
Governor Nyesom Wike has made it clear that cash will not be disbursed but relief materials would be distributed. A woman who gave birth to twins in one of the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) has been evacuated to a hospital in a safer location.
In Bayelsa, a committee was also set up and N450 million has been approved for them, though the devastation in the state is larger.
So far, some victims have admitted to getting five cups of beans and two packs of noodles, plus a few cups of rice.
Small businesses perish
The biggest challenge is the crash of small businesses. Traders and artisans have fled and their petty articles have perished.
These traders usually collect microloans from lending agencies, with the biggest in the Niger Delta being Lift Above Poverty (LAPO) with headquarters in Benin but branches in every locality.
They collect the loans and pay back weekly through cooperatives. With almost most people on the run, the cooperatives have been disorganised and refunds have stopped.
Those into printing, business centres and schools, among others, have fled. Businesses have ground to a halt.
Read also: Flooding, IDPs avoidable if FG was proactive – Obi
One of the biggest petty businesses in the oil region is Christmas Contribution, where people contribute daily and hope to get bags of rice and other items from November every year. In 2012, this was disrupted. Now, the disruption seems heavier. “Soon, cries will ring out,” a woman that runs the business in Port Harcourt told BusinessDay.
Most of the women that run small businesses are now in IDP camps and in churches and in the houses of relations as refugees.
In Bayelsa and parts of Rivers State, some churches have formed volunteer groups to help their members.
A ground under an evangelist, Jeremy Godson, said they have over 150 victims out of the 5,000 in their area.
Those working between Rivers West and Bayelsa to help churches who spoke to BusinessDay include Emmanuel C Emma, a reverend in Higher Ground Bible Church, Omofo, Ndele in Emohua LGA of Rivers State.
Others include Ijeoma Christian (pastor) and Raphael Okoloba.
Patrick Ugwu, a deacon, is working to rescue people in Egbema area of Rivers State; Barnabas Bem is also busy saving lives. Nathaniel Agolobi is fighting the flood in Yenagoa, Bayelsa, while Adiele Beulah is working in Biogbolo area of Bayelsa.
Their report is that the impact of this year’s flood is more than the previous ones and over 5,000 have been rendered homeless in their areas. It said: “Farmlands have been overshadowed and flooded. An average Bayelsan family relies on farm products for survival.
“Persons have been aided by private efforts to move to residual camps; schools have been turned to refugee camps, churches have offered their sanctuary to shelter.
“Individuals have taken it upon themselves to help by supporting with welfare. But the tenacity of the flood which is rising by the second is causing most people who feel they won’t be affected to pack out leaving them homeless and causing the statistics to increase. Assistance needed includes the supply of mosquito nets, supply of welfare (foodstuffs and healthcare), sachets of water, financial support, and encouragement to fight the raging flood.”
