years has been predicted by the National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA).
When the disaster occurs in the Northwest Province of Cameroon, NEMA
said frontline states in Nigeria such as Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Adamawa,
Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Anambra and others in the Niger Delta region
might be affected.
At the signing of the Lake Nyos disaster response manual with
stakeholders in Abuja yesterday, the Director-General of NEMA, Alhaji
Muhammed Sani-Sidi, said the meeting was to evolve proactive measures
for any disaster that might arise from the possible collapse of the
lake.
Meanwhile, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the Action Congress
of Nigeria (ACN) have disagreed on the best way to respond to the
flooding and other disasters facing the country.
The PDP on Wednesday condemned the ACN's reaction to the flood
disasters in different parts of the country.
In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa
Metuh, PDP said instead of sympathising with the victims, ACN chose to
play politics.
But yesterday, the ACN condemned the PDP's response to criticism.
Noting that the PDP had run out of ideas, the ACN said that rather
than address the issues raised in its criticism of the central
government's inept handling of the multiple calamities the country was
reeling under, the PDP had characteristically embarked on a "flight of
fancy and daylight hallucination."
Also in Delta State, the Deputy Governor, Prof. Amos Utuama, (SAN),
who is chairman of the Uduaghan Government's Special Emergency
Committee on Flood Disaster Management described the tragedy as
overwhelming and called for the intervention of the relevant federal
agencies.
Among some of the affected communities are Asaba, the State capital,
Anwai, Illah, Okwagbe, Uzere, Aviara, Abari, Burutu, Bomadi, Okpai,
Aboh, Abala- Oshmili, Abala-Uno, Oko.
The lake, which is located in Western Cameroun, adjacent to Nigeria,
covers an area of 1.5 kilometres and a depth of 200 metres. It has a
water volume of about 132 million cubic metres.
Sani-Sidi, who was represented by NEMA's Director of Administration,
Dr. Zanna Muhammad, said: "The wall of the dam may fail as a result of
gradual erosion from rain, wind and lake waters or as a result of
violent volcanic eruption, earthquake or tremor.
"Continuing erosion of the wall in Lake Nyos has put the dam at a
point of potential collapse as predicted by United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) in a 2005 report, " he said.
According to him, the eventual failure of the dam would result in the
discharge of about 55 million cubic metres of water, which would
result in flooding downstream.
It is estimated that between Cameroun border and River Benue, 50
settlements, including Katsina-Ala, Kashimbilla, Waya, Manga, Gamovo,
Andie, Terwegh and over 15,000 hectares of land, would be flooded.
NEMA said over one million people and 20,000 herds of cattle and
livestock would be caught within the flood path and could perish.
The financial losses, Sani-Sidi said, are estimated to be in billions,
as crops, residential and commercial structures, utilities and
infrastructure such as roads and bridges and other services would be
affected.
In a paper titled: "Overview of Lake Nyos disaster response manual,"
Assistant Director, Planning, Research and Forecasting, Mr. Benjamen
Oghena, said the collapse of the dam would result in the release of
water at an estimated peak discharge of 17,000 cubic metres per second
into Kumbi River, discharging into Katsina-Ala River in Nigeria.
He said about 50 million cubic metres of water would flow downhill,
adding that in 1986, the area around the lake was evacuated but
lamented that people were returning to the place because of the good
grazing land.
Oghena said the volcanic rock forming the natural dam, which holds
water in the lake is weak.
"This is expected to eventually lead to the failure of the dam and if
the dam should fail the upper 40 metres of water would spill out,
leading to an immediate eruption and a major flood extending all the
way into Nigeria," he said.
The statement by Metuh read in part: "The ACN in its statement even
went to ridiculous extents like condemning the closure of the
Abuja-Lokoja road which is a precautionary measure taken to save lives
following this disaster.
" Natural disasters are not restricted to any particular part of the
country. For instance, Lagos State, which is under the ACN has
suffered multiple cases of flooding, yet no one came out to ascribe
them to the failure of infrastructure by the state government. No one
in the PDP has ever played politics with such."
But in a statement in Lagos yesterday by the ACN's National Publicity
Secretary Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said: "To accuse the Action
Congress of Nigeria of politicizing national disasters and calamities
when it actually only criticised President Jonathan's lack of
capacity, pro-activeness, and coordinated response to these natural
calamities and disasters depicts the paucity of the thought process of
the People's Democratic Party-led Federal Government.
"How can the attempt to draw the attention of Nigerians to the inept
handling of the problems confronting the country be disparaged as
attention-seeking? How long did it take for any minister or
high-ranking government official to visit the scene of the flooding
for an on-the-spot assessment? Why would a President, just 15 minutes
away from the scene of the worst flooding ever witnessed in the
country fail to visit for immediate assessment? How many days after
the disaster did it take the Federal Government to belatedly take any
action? Where are the concrete adaptation and mitigation measures to
prevent a future occurrence of this disaster if it occurs elsewhere
in the country tomorrow?
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