By Elias Ntungwe
Ngalame
YAOUNDE
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - As this year’s rainy season gathers
momentum, authorities in Cameroon and Nigeria fear a repeat of the 2012 crisis
when waterways burst their banks and devastated entire villages, killing some
180 people across the north of both countries.
As a result
of last year’s disaster, the two West African nations have resolved to
cooperate on building new flood-control structures, sharing weather information
and relocating people from flood-prone areas in an effort to avoid further
losses.
“The
Cameroon government and her Nigerian neighbour have engaged in a united effort
through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) established by a joint team of
water management experts from both countries to take measures to forestall the
flood calamities that occurred last year,” Cameroon’s prime minister announced
after meeting Nigeria’s minister of water resources, Sara Reng Ochekpe, on July
26 in Yaounde.
The move
came after a gathering of experts on water resources and electricity generation
in the trans-boundary Benue River Basin in the same week. All stressed the
urgent need to work together to manage the shared basin, in order to minimise
the risks of flooding.
“Cameroon
has to collaborate with us to avoid the same flood challenge we had last year.
We need adequate preventive measures because climate change impacts are very
unpredictable,” Nigerian minister Ochekpe told journalists.
Meteorologists
said the torrential rains of July and August 2012 - which destroyed farmland
and infrastructure, and displaced thousands of people – were probably the
heaviest seen in the region in half a century.
The
government in Cameroon put the death toll there at over 40, but in Nigeria,
casualties were higher at 137, according to the Nigeria Red Cross.
The rainy
season usually begins in June or July and peaks in September.
TRADING BLAME
The poor
management of shared water resources by governments in the region came in for
criticism as Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad traded accusations over who had
aggravated the disaster. Cameroon, in particular, was slammed for releasing
large amounts of water from its Lagdo Dam.
“While
Nigeria blamed Cameroon for the disaster, Cameroon in turn blamed Chad for
unilaterally raising the dike along the banks of the trans-boundary River
Logone, prolonging it for several kilometres and causing excess water flow from
heavy rains into the Lagdo Dam. At a certain point the dam could no longer
contain the excess water and broke down, discharging water into the River Benue
that runs through northern Nigerian territory,” Isaac Njillah, an environment
and disaster management lecturer at the University of Yaounde 1, told Thomson
Reuters Foundation.
The
fledgling cooperation between Cameroon and Nigeria is intended to avoid such
misunderstandings in future.
The two
countries have agreed to build more water monitoring and control structures on
the tributaries of the Benue, as well as to establish a framework for the
exchange of hydro-meteorological and environmental data. They will carry out
joint technical site visits, studies and research, and set up an early warning
and response mechanism.
“We have
also agreed to ask those living in areas vulnerable to floods to stay away from
submerged areas, or to forcefully eject those who do not leave. Another option
is to intensify administrative partnership and collaboration,” said Ottou
Wilson, the governor of Cameroon’s North Region.
Cooperation
in the area of water resources should take into account the Niger Basin
Authority Water Charter, the MoU said. The two countries will also collaborate
on the management and development of the trans-boundary river basin, with the
details worked out by a joint committee of experts.
With
regard to the Lagdo hydro-electric dam, a stronger framework will be put in
place to share information on water release from the dam. The need for the
Nigerian side to build a corresponding structure, or dam, to regulate the flow
of water on the River Benue was also emphasised.
NEW MONITORING EQUIPMENT
Cameroon
said the Japanese government will donate equipment to facilitate the recording
of quality meteorological data which is needed to prevent flood disasters.
“We have
started reinforcing and re-equipping the over 300 meteorological centres
throughout the country, many of which were not functional for lack of finances
to replace obsolete equipment,” Cameroon’s minister of water and energy, Basil
Atangana Kouna, told Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Other
international donors are also helping Cameroon with measures to prevent deadly
floods in the Far North. In June, the World Bank approved a $108 million grant
to support efforts to rehabilitate embankments, dams and irrigation systems and
improve disaster preparedness in that area.
“Northern
Cameroon is characterised by high poverty levels, and it is also highly vulnerable
to natural disasters and climate shocks, including frequent droughts and
floods,” Gregor Binkert, the World Bank country director for Cameroon, said in
a statement.
“In
addition to rehabilitating damaged water infrastructure, these funds will help
restore the area’s rice production, and provide food and income for the farmers
living in the area,” the statement added.
Environment
and weather experts say the new assistance will revive weather monitoring
activities, which have come to a standstill in most centres due to outdated
equipment, as well as maintaining dams in a reasonable state.
“Weather
monitoring stations are of cardinal importance in the production of relevant
and timely data. The excessive rains and subsequent floods in the Northern
Region in 2012 could have been avoided if we had had modern and well-equipped
meteorological centres...and a policy to regularly rehabilitate the dam,”
Njillah said.
He urged
Cameroon and Nigeria to look at using satellites to monitor weather and climate
patterns and longer-term trends.
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