Nigeria is bracing for another round of heavy rainfall and flooding across 15 states, even as environmental experts raise concerns over decades of poor management of the Ecological Fund.
The National Flood Early Warning Centre of the Ministry of Environment issued an alert on Wednesday, warning that between September 24 and 28, communities in Adamawa, Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno, Delta, Edo, Imo, Kano, Katsina, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara could be hit by floods.
Director of Erosion, Flood and Coastal Zone Management, Usman Abdullahi Bokani, who signed the advisory, urged residents, state governments and emergency agencies to act quickly.
“The heavy rainfall forecast for these locations may lead to flooding in the identified communities and their environs. Stakeholders are therefore advised to prepare adequately and implement preventive actions,” he said.
Data from the National Emergency Management Agency shows that, as of September 20, no fewer than 232 people had died, 121,224 displaced, and 339,658 affected by floods this year, with 681 sustaining injuries.
But experts say beyond early warnings, the failure to channel ecological funds into meaningful projects has left the country unprepared for recurring disasters.
Speaking to Radio Nigeria, AVM (Rtd) Akugbe Iyamu, a climate change consultant and President of the Association of Environmental Protection and Climate Change Practitioners, condemned what he described as decades of neglect.
“Since the creation of the Ecological Fund in 1981, successive governments at both national and subnational levels have applied it to narrow interests. From the Ogunpa disaster to the 2012, 2018 and 2022 floods, our response has been less than optimal,” he lamented
Iyamu highlighted the abandoned Dasin Hausa Dam project, initiated in 1982, as a symbol of government failure.
“While China is investing $165 billion in the world’s largest dam and Ethiopia is expanding its flood-control infrastructure, we are still struggling with a dam project that should have been completed decades ago,” he noted
The retired Air Vice Marshal further warned that Nigeria’s 340 dams, particularly the mega dams along rivers Niger and Benue, remain poorly maintained at a time when global warming is intensifying flood risks.
“Our dams are the greatest barrier against flooding, yet many of them are compromised. With melting Arctic ice and disappearing glaciers adding more water into global systems, the risk to Nigeria is growing,” he said
Iyamu posed a stark question: “What exactly are we spending the Ecological Fund on, when citizens are left to suffer repeated tragedies year after year?”
As Nigeria prepares to celebrate its 65th Independence Anniversary, analysts warn that the rising flood toll is a grim reminder of the urgent need for climate action, stronger infrastructure, and transparent use of ecological funds.