“If I were to remain silent, I would be guilty of complicity” – Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

“The fact that the southern Niger Republic is greener than parts of northern Nigeria should suggest to us that our approach to environmental management is defective” – Nnimmo Bassey (Director, Health of Mother Earth Foundation – HOMEF).

The above two quotations are apt for the real reason why this article was written. The first one was from the fertile mind of the late renowned 1921Nobel Prize Winner in Physics, German-born Albert Einstein, “a theoretical Physicist who developed the theory of relativity, one of the two pillars of modern physics.”(Wikipedia).

The second one was excerpted from an article in EnviroNews Nigeria (January 14, 2018). It is an omnibus online magazine that covers environmental, climate change, human settlement, sustainable development, water & sanitation,  renewable energy, science, and technology issues in Nigeria and around the world. The said article titled: “Benue massacre: Ending the season of heady herders” was written by Nnimmo Bassey whose employment identity is disclosed above.

Be that as it may, this writer wants to draw the attention of readers to the ongoing national discourse in Nigeria on the proposed bill by the Federal Government to create cattle colonies throughout the states of the federation by invoking the “power of eminent domain” to acquire land in each state for the sole use by a few compatriots who are pastoralists (cattle rearers) from certain ethnic group, to the detriment of other compatriots who are mainly peasants engaged in subsistence farming as their means of livelihood.

Since the Federal Government intention was made public, the polity has been heated to the boiling point causing a barrage of caustic commentaries, vitriolic, diatribe, hate speeches, provocative newspaper articles, and TV discussions all laced with fury and ethnic or religious sentiments from both sides of the divide, that is the pro and con agitators who are for or against the idea being mooted by the Federal Government. Regrettably, it has caused violence traced to the Fulani herdsmen to escalate in some sections of the country.

Many innocent lives have been lost to the orgy of violence and drums of another civil war are being beaten by the aggrieved.

Benue State, in particular, was the major victim where scores of her indigenes were mercilessly massacred by the rampaging Fulani herdsmen. The social media is replete with gory and offensive pictures of women and children brutally macheted and decapitated. The ugly incident has been labeled “genocide” which means that we are slowly walking the road to Kigali, Rwanda, the consequence of which is better imagined than experienced.

How do we find ourselves in this avoidable and pitiable situation as a nation? Lethargy is number one reason. Two, we always indulge in playing the proverbial ostrich. Three, we often fail to plan and collaboratively plan to fail. This writer is an unrepentant critic of the government’s lackadaisical attitude to planning most especially environmental and physical planning, as pivotal as these two issues are. We constantly abuse the environment to the detriment of our health, the cities, regions and the country as a whole.

We set up a gamut of a lame duck and cueless institutional apparatus and regulatory bodies whose impacts are never felt by the citizenry regarding their functions and sundry responsibilities under their purview. Nnimmo Bassey was unequivocal about these shortcomings as encapsulated in the opening quote above and went further to indirectly intone that we leave leprosy (which is more harmful to human) to treat ringworm a less harmful disease. Put in simple word, bureaucracy is a national malaise. The Government lacks priority. It treats any matter of national urgency with tardiness and sometimes with levity until it snowballs to a national crisis. The herdsmen-farmers’ incessant crisis is a living and trending example.

It is a cumulative effect and abysmal failure of environmental management on the part of the Federal Government and lack of a land use inventory as a precursor to the preparation of national physical and environmental plans, which are long overdue in Nigeria. Quoting Bassey again, he said regarding our vegetative cover and water resources, “we tend to see our environment as capable of self-regeneration irrespective of how rabid our rate of consumption of Nature’s gifts to us…The result is the reality of desertification in northern Nigeria that we characterise as the downward march or spread of the Sahara Desert.” He added a poser, “if the desert were marching down so mercilessly, how come Niger Republic (a country closer to the Sahara Desert) has not gone completely under the sand?”

In the light of the debate about the perennial clashes between the herdsmen and local farmers around the country, I want to lend a voice rather than remain silent, to avoid being guilty of complicity as Albert Einstein opined. Albeit there have been series of suggestions on how to resolve the age-long national conflict, the rigid positions that are being taken by the various commentators and ethnic affiliates cannot and will never solve the problem. We need to be flexible and amenable to whatever position we take. First, the Federal Government approach needs to be reconsidered. Its use of the “power of eminent”( the power of Government to take private property and convert it to public use) is being wrongly applied in this case. There is no legal defense for the intended action of the government to take land from one group of people and hand it over to another set of people for personal business.

Pastoralism is a commercial business which anybody can engage in and not the exclusive business of a “particular ethnic nationalities nor region.” The cattle colonies are not for public use, which contradicts the letters of the eminent domain law. The Federal Government errs in law by robbing Peter (landowner-farmer) to pay Paul (the pastoralist) for the conduct of the latter’s private business.

In a Supreme Court landmark judgement in 2003 over a suit instituted by the Lagos State Government (LASG) against the Federal Government to determine which of the two governmental entities has the constitutional authority for planning, the apex court ruled in favour of LASG based on the premise that planning is a residual matter in the Nigerian constitution, which falls under the purview of the state. The Supreme Court ruled that the only area which the Federal Government could exert its power of authority on land use is within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) including Abuja, the nation’s capital city. The land within the FCT can be subjected to any use as the Federal Government pleases in cognisance of the territory’s master plan. In a nutshell, the Federal Government cannot be too overbearing in the use of its power contrary to what the supreme law(constitution) of the land allows.

Land is a platform for development. It is the prerogative of each state to determine what and how it wants to use the land under its jurisdiction for developmental purposes. The establishment of cattle colonies could be the priority of the Federal Government, whereas mechanised agriculture could be a state’s priority. The two choices have one thing in common: they are both consumers of huge land. The states would be reluctant to release a large chunk of land to outsiders for a venture where they cannot reap any benefit for the good of their indigenes. It is an injustice. Like the late American civil rights icon, Martin Luther King pontificated, “an injustice anywhere is a treat to justice everywhere.”

The short-term solution is more engagement and dialogue with all warring parties to douse the tension of more violence. Furthermore, the Federal Government should aggregate all shades of opinions and technical recommendations volunteered by professionals and choose the best options to ameliorate the looming crisis. The use of Federal might through the enactment of a protective law that unjustly favours one ethnic group against the others is a recipe for national anarchy.

By Yacoob Abiodun (Urban Planner, Planning Advocate, Hayward, California, USA)

Three United Nations independent experts on Monday, January 15, 2018 called on the Kenyan government to respect the rights of indigenous Sengwer peoples while implementing a climate change project in north-western Kenya.

The experts expressed concerns about recent reports that indigenous Sengwer peoples have been attacked and forcibly evicted from their homes.

They said the forceful eviction was as a result of the implementation of the Water Towers Protection and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation project, an EU-funded water management project.

The experts are John H. Knox, Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment; Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples; and Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.

They called on the Kenyan authorities to urgently halt the evictions of the Sengwer community and undertake impartial investigations of these attacks.

“Furthermore, we urge the European Union to suspend funding for the project until measures have been taken to uphold international standards on indigenous peoples’ rights,’’ experts said.

The Sengwer indigenous people whose population is estimated at 33,000 inhabit forests straddling Elgeyo Marakwet and Trans Nzoia counties in north-western Kenya.

For centuries, the Sengwer community has derived its livelihood from the forest ecosystem while protecting it from both man-made and natural calamities.

The Ministry of Environment in partnership with EU has since 2016 implemented a climate resilience project on the foothills of Cherangany water tower.

The project roots for active involvement of indigenous communities in restoration of one of the five major water towers in the country.

“The Sengwer are facing repeated attacks and forced evictions by agents of the Kenya Forest Service, which is an implementing agency in the project financed by the European Union,’’ the experts said.

Over 100 armed Forest Service guards entered the traditional lands of the Sengwer in the Embobut Forest on Dec 25, 2017, firing gunshots, burning no less than 15 homes and killing their livestock.

On Jan. 9, one of the Sengwer leaders was shot at by Forest Service Service guards but while he managed to escape unhurt, his house was burnt down and his property destroyed.

The experts called on Kenya and the EU to ensure that the human rights of the Sengwer peoples are respected, noting that consultations have not been held with the Sengwer to seek their free, prior and informed consent.

“We are concerned that the project is being undertaken without a human rights impact assessment,’’ the experts said.

It was a terrible day as Olasumbo Apanpa’s apartment at the Lekky County Homes Estate in Ikota, on the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lagos was ravaged by flood. Sequel to the devastating flooding and fear of what the incoming rainy season has in stock by staying in her apartment, she has no option than to relocate to a different apartment – for the safety of her family prior to the incoming rainy season.

Properties worth billions of naira were destroyed in the epic flooding of July 8, 2017 – which engulfed Lagos, Nigeria. Socio-economic activities were at standstill, many people unexpectedly got mired in massive debts, and millions of residents dispossessed of their hard-earned valuables and forcefully ejected from their abodes abruptly; leaving the trail of severe ecological damage. Six months after, the victims are still reeling in the scars and finding it difficult to wriggle out of the trauma – as the ugly incidence flashes in their thoughts.

“On that fateful Saturday morning, I was still snuggling up in bed, because it had been raining since morning, till my son came into my room. He said he got a WhatsApp message on the estate residents’ platform asking people to pray for the rain to stop, that it was serious!  I got up then to go downstairs only to see our sitting room flooded to almost knee deep.

“We looked out from our balcony and saw water gushing out from a wall that had been there to demarcate the estate. The force of the water broke the wall and water was just flowing into houses and streets in torrents. The whole place was looking like a moving stream,” Apanpa reveals in an interview.

With an estimated population of 21 million and 40% landmass of water bodies, Lagos is unarguably the most populous city and Nigeria’s commercial capital. But the bustling city is vulnerable to flooding, sea level rise, high water table, ocean surges and inundation due to its strategic location and low-lying terrain. Despite that, thousands of migrants who are earnestly in search of greener pastures within and outside Nigeria’s shores troop in on a daily basis – constituting stress on the few facilities – leading to extensive pressure on the Lagos’ fragile  ecosystem.

Amidst the growing population and the skyrocketed cost of acquiring an apartment, the low-income migrants who are desperate to cope with the standard of living and hit the ground running are left with the option of pitching their tents in informal settlements – which are devoid of basic amenities. The over 65% inhabitants are perpetually vulnerable to extensive flooding, ocean surges, poor sanitation, and malaria and cholera outbreak. Such shanties are often on low-lying coastal areas; among which are communities such as Makoko, Ilaje-Bariga, Iwaya, and the recently-demolished Otodo Gbame.

In contrast, the rich have a penchant for land reclamation along the ocean and river banks – prompting queries and suspicion on the genuinety of Environmental Impact Assessment purportedly carried out prior to such land mark projects.

The 9 Km2 landmass of the ongoing Eko Atlantic City project – requiring about 95 million m3 of sand dredged from the sea bed typifies such an affluent and grandiose reclamation project — with an estimated cost of $6 billion. It is expected to accommodate about 350,000 people, with the price of a two-bedroom apartment selling in the region of $896,750.

Climate scientists are worried that continuous and unregulated reclamation could exacerbate flooding, the devastation of marine habitat culminating ecological imbalance. And quite worrisome, the poorer communities are at the receiving end of coastal erosion, extensive flooding and tidal waves generated by reclamation – with untoward consequences.

A source close to Total Exploration & Production Nigeria Limited, revealed that the firm was badly hit as properties worth over N35 million got damaged. According to him, the entire ground floor of the firm located at Victoria Island was submerged such that the underground draining pipes were unable to suck out the water. There are indications that the firm is yet to recover from the debt incurred.

“This is the first time I’m experiencing this kind of flooding in my adult life and I know of a family who was contacted and relocated that same day,” the source adds.

The unprecedented submergence along Ahmadu Bello Way on Victoria Island is said to be just a tip of the iceberg of the looming danger. On the heels of the devastating occurrence, palpable fear is evident as Lagos residents are apprehensive of what the incoming rainy season has in stock for them – owing to the failed promises of the concerned bodies.

No doubt, flood is a natural and global source of concern – in which Lagos isn’t exempted from its perennial occurrence. According to worldweather online, the average rainfall of 281.3 mm in July was the highest rainfall volume in 2017 – with duration of 30 days. Not surprising the extensive flooding.

As part of efforts to rid the state of flooding, the government says it is committed to desilting by clearing jerry cans, sacks, polythene bags, tires, blocks, silts among others that block the free-flow of storm water.

“Ikorodu Road, Mile12, Kosofe, Ketu, Ojota, Anothy, Maryland, Ilupeju, Obanikoro, Palmgrove, Onipanu, Fadeyi, Jibowu, Moshalashi, Ojuelegba, Stadium, Alaka and Iponri.Others include CMS, Marina, TBS, Kudirat Abiola Way, Awolowo Road, Opebi-Allen Road, Apapa Wharf Road and Agege,” are being desilted as revealed by Managing Director of Drain Ducks, Mr. Akeem Apatira.

The Lagos government is indeed commended for its adaptation and mitigation moves but, quite unfortunate that the ambitious and commendable Lagos State Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (LAS- CCAS) that briefly outlinesd drainage appears not to have given a full account of a clear and comprehensive roadmap in addressing the seemingly defective drainage pattern the state, the indiscriminate dredging by sand miners, and relocation plans. And nothing concrete was said of uncoordinated settlements lying across flood plains and the down streams of Oyan dam.

“If we have learnt anything in the ongoing flooding of some parts of the state, it is that there is an immediate, even urgent need for us to embark upon a review and re-engineering of our canals and drainage systems,” Governor Akinwunmi Ambode said in dousing the tension subsequently after the flooding.

Nothing can stop accumulation of excessive puddles not receding some days after a long stretch of heavy downpour if well-structured and efficient drainage systems together with a strictly coordinated infrastructural layout are not incorporated into the adaptation strategy. Alleviating the seasonal flooding would be in jeopardy, and thereby threading the path of a mirage.

Six months after the promise, most of the inhabitants are still sceptical of government’s sincerity in tackling the defying flooding. The citizens have a role to play too in stopping refuse clogging the water ways and obstruct free flow of water.

Apart from the shrinking Lake Chad basin which is capable of triggering unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Northeast Nigeria and beyond, perennial flooding in Lagos is a climate change phenomenon in urgent need of proactive measures towards forestalling inundation that is capable of wreaking havoc on Lagos’ ecosystem.

By Odewale Abayomi Joseph (ICFJ Climate Fellow, climate writer and advocate; @ODEWALEAbayomi)