Flood Disaster Vulnerability in North Central Nigeria

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue XII, December 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Flood Disaster Vulnerability in North Central Nigeria

BAMIDELE, Owemidu Femi¹, BADIORA, Adewumi Israel^2
1Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria
²Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract:-The vulnerability of residents and their livelihoods to flood disaster was examined in this study.
In order to achieve this, the study was conducted using questionnaire and field observation. The data obtained were analysed using descriptive and statistical analysis. It was revealed through findings that residents had high level of awareness of flood occurrence. It was also revealed that flood frequency in the study area was high mainly especially in the highly espoused zones. Moreover, vulnerability to flood disaster varies significantly (p< 0.05) across the 12 selected Neighbourhoods in the study area. The Neighbourhood with the highest vulnerability was Felele (0.35), followed by Adankolo (1.35), Sabo (1.71), Rijia (2.31), Marine (2.71), and so on while GRA had the lowest (5.15) vulnerability. Although flood frequency was highest in Rijia (38.94), vulnerability in the area is only fourth highest because it has a relatively strong coping capacity (1.5) compared to Felele (1.2), Adankolo (0.8) and Sabo (0.5).To reduce the impact of floods, it is very important to identify and understand the socioeconomic, physical and environmental factors that determine people’s exposure, sensitivity and ability to cope with stress or change.

I. INTRODUCTION

Flood remains one of the most frequent and widespread hazards in the built environment as it can simultaneously affect agriculture, settlement, flora and fauna, transportation, education, food security, infrastructure, peace building among others (Grothman, 2017; Ikusemaran, 2017; Percival and Teuw, 2019). The widespread effects of floods as reflected in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (ASD) linked the disaster to one of the challenges limiting sustainability (UN Habitat, 2019)..This is axiomatic because there are 25 targets that relate disaster risk to sustainability (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, Commission {IFRC}, 2015).
The occurrence of floods in Nigeria in general and in the North Central in particular have been frequent, intense and disastrous in the last few decades. The 2012 and 2017 flood disasters experienced in North Central Nigeria were the worst ever witnessed in her history with Kogi and Niger topping the chart in terms of damage and material loss (National Emergency Management Agency {NEMA}, 2018). These two states are located in North Central Nigeria. Flooding in these areas has attracted humanitarian assistance from NEMA, Red Cross and other relevant bodies but has not been alleviated. Beyond the Nigerian experience the disastrous effects of flooding in Africa has been linked to her residents’ inability to overcome poverty, deprivation and widespread epidemics (Adelakan, 2009).

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