Marco Werman: That’s a good point you bring up there. Rain is expected at this time of year in West Africa, and it’s increasing and becoming more severe. But why was this past month so bad?

Vincent Ojeh: Well, in terms of flooding, we can attribute it to issues of climate change, because climate change has exacerbated how the rain falls, the duration of the rain and how much is received, OK, in a particular place at a particular time. This rain is so important because the farmers need it. So, it’s a case of the farmer needs rain to grow their crop, especially those in the northern part of Nigeria. But unfortunately, sometimes it comes torrentially and inundates both farmland and cities.

Talk a bit about what rural areas in Nigeria have been facing. How will these floods impact planting and harvesting overall?

Wow. That is a [major issue regarding] the impact of floods on agriculture. In the midst of the flood, we have a dry spell. That has been an experience for the past 2 or 3 years over here. So, it means that farmers lose their crops. In the initial stages, they are planted early without early warning; then, in the middle of the road, there is a dry spell- a period where they are still expecting rain, but the rain goes off for about a week or more. So most farmers lose their crop completely. Some others harvest little to nothing, compared to what was planted and the supposed yield for the year. So it affects livelihoods; it affects the price in the marketplace and, of course, affects rural people, Indigenous people.

And presumably we won’t see the real impacts of all this until it’s time to take those products to market, if they have that produce. I’m curious: what has been the impact in cities where drainage can be a problem?

Yes, that is where the impact of anthropogenic forces now comes in. Most places have little drainage because we say in West Africa we are most impacted because of our inability to adapt subsequently as a result of infrastructural decadence. But even when these places have drainage, sometimes people’s attitude toward environmental sanitation is to clog these drains, and, of course, yeah, that affects people in the city. We see goods in shops get lost. We see vehicles get destroyed. We see homes flooded with electronic gadgets and other — all this has economic effects on the livelihoods of city dwellers.

What has been the response from the authorities to all of this?

So the major response we’ve seen so far is — they call it the Federal Emergency Management Agency or the State Emergency Management Agency at the subnational level. They respond to these people by giving them period bedding, some food and all that. But that cannot even be qualified to be called a serious adaptation, not to talk of being resilient to flooding.

Right. So the reaction to the current situation is not enough. I mean, you spoke earlier about climate change, and you were very clear about how much that has contributed to the problems West Africa and Nigeria are facing. So how much has the Nigerian government placed this climate change reality front and center in their planning and being prepared for heavier rains and the ensuing floods?

Yes, I must acknowledge that the Nigerian government is climate-aware. The laws are there: the NASPA-CCN of 2011 and the Climate Change Policy of 2021. Most of that evidence is that there’s climate change. And the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and the National Hydrological Agency also keep giving us information on the weather outlook. But the major challenge is, yes, once this thing is done at the federal level, downscaling it to the subnational and also to the rural people is now the challenge. That’s why we’re advocating more people in the subnational to take this message, early enough, to the farmers to know what they’re expecting.

As far as the flooding, I mean, this has become a repetitive tragedy, as we’ve said a couple of times: extreme rain, flooding and resulting deaths. How then do people in Nigeria prepare for what could be a disastrous rainy season, knowing that floods could keep getting worse and the government is not providing adequate guidance and policy to make things better?

Most people in Nigeria are aware about climate change. At my own level, I do the weather forecast for the state on a radio station, and it’s related to the communities to know what to expect. Sometimes I can give a prediction up to, uh, 3, 4, or 5 days ahead, a week in advance, to know what is coming. But at my own level, this is just an independent contribution I’m making, and of course they are appreciative of it because it’s been of help for the 2-3 years I’ve started doing that.

So what do you expect to see in the coming weeks, Vincent? What’s in the forecast?

Yes, we are still in the middle of the rainy season. It’s not over yet. It’s not yet over for those of us in West Africa. So many people are trying to clean up their environment, making sure that the drains are emptied and all that. So, that’s how they respond at the individual level. At the government level, I think the state government has created a ministry properly dedicated to environmental sanitation. They go around sweeping the streets and clearing every drainage that has been clogged over the years. And this will also help to take water away from the city. But those in the farming zones, where people go to farm, the only thing that can save them from flooding, of course, is maybe building embankments around the farms and all that, which is not possible because of the farmers’ inability. They need money to do a lot of things, so they may not have money to fence off their farm against floodwaters.