Financial implications and challenges of flood disaster management in Nigeria: Evidence from the activities of National Emergency Management Agency in FCT Abuja

Abstract

Flood disaster management aims to reduce, or avoid the potential losses from flood hazards, assure prompt and appropriate assistance to victims of disaster, and achieve rapid and effective recovery. It is against this background that this paper examined Financial Implications and Challenges of Flood Disaster Management in Nigeria by drawing evidence from FCT, Abuja. Qualitative and quantitative descriptive research design were adopted. The study made use of secondary data from the National Emergency Management Agency, Abuja. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data, while utilizing structural-functionalism theory as a theoretical framework of analysis. The findings indicated that flood disaster is only second to road crashes in ranking of highest emergency situations recorded in FCT. The results also disclosed the major humanitarian services of NEMA to include the distribution of relief materials and school enrolment of Internally Displaced Persons. The results showed that the activities of NEMA are heavily financial demanding gulping N1,368,034,743 in 2018, N1,687,626,057 in 2019 and N961,492,487, respectively, in FCT alone. The findings also show that, on the other hand, the activities of the agency have faced challenges such as
inadequate funding, poor logistics, lack of proper maintenance of infrastructure and equipment, improper vulnerability assessment, and inadequate and ineffective legal and regulatory framework. Based on the findings, the study recommends adequate funding, use of other means of transportation, and more public enlightenment.