Socio-Economic Effect of Flood in Akare, Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Floods are purely environmental hazards of meteorological causes, but very often induced by man’s improper utilization of the physical environment. Floods are among the most dramatic forms of interaction between man and its environment. When it occurs, they have Socio- Economic effects in the form of heavy loss of lives and properties, misery, hardship, diseases and at times famine. Akare community has suffered floods for three (3) consecutive rainfall seasons in the year; 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2012. The most recent 2012 flooding season has been described by the community as the worst in terms of the amount of rainfall received and level of impact. The floods caused displacement of people from their usual dwelling places resulting into varying impacts on infrastructure, crops, health, education, environment as well as damage to property (NSEMA, Assessment of Floods Report, 2012). The research assesses the effects of flooding on the socio-economic activities of Akare community of Niger State. 300 structured questionnaires was prepared and administered to the residents of Akare and the flood affected communities for the purpose of generating their responses arising from flooding and its related problems. Simple descriptive statistics was used for analyzing of the data collected. GIS software was used to develop flood map. The study reveal that the 2007 flood affected agricultural products with an estimated loss of about N9,0000,000.00, in 2008 agricultural product worth about N58,000,000.00 was lost, in 2009 it was about N32,000,000.00, in 2010 it was about N3,000,000.00 and in 2011 it was about N6,000,000.00. The estimated loss between 2007 and 2011 was put at about 108,000,000. It was hereby recommended that floodable areas occupants and/or owners to be aware of identified flood hazards and also to encourage individuals to take actions such as flood proofing and developing escape plans, to mitigate their flood potential.