Financial Assessment of the Flood Risk Preparedness of Some Selected States in Nigeria

Abstract

The impact of flooding transcends cultures, religions and geographies; such impact is associated with loss of properties and lives as well as disruption in community and business life. Flood risks are exacerbated by socio-economic factors including the action and inaction of governments. Previous studies on flooding within the study area have focused on the causes of flooding, the health effects of flood incidents and residents’ coping measures. This paper will undertake a financial assessment of flood risk preparedness of some selected states within the north-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria with the view to highlighting the importance attached to flood risk in government budgets. This will be achieved through a review of literature to learn how studies of flood disaster costs were carried out in order to design an appropriate methodology for carrying out the research. The findings and methodologies applied in 15 papers on flood impact that were published between 2013 and 2018 were reviewed. Most of the papers adopted a quantitative approach; interviews, where used, served solely as a means of building up estimates of flood disaster costs. The suggestion that flood disaster costs research is best carried out using a quantitative approach was adopted in this paper and will be operationalized through questionnaires and document study. This will enable conclusions to be drawn as to the financial preparedness of governments to tackle flood disasters.