Flooding Conceptual Review: Sustainability-Focalized Best Practices in Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria’s 196 million people is the third fastest growing population in the world; the interactions of this build up has left an indelible mark on the landscape and environment. Urbanization, deforestation, flooding, desertification, over population and all levels of pollution are resultant effects of this interaction with the environment. These changes directly relate to a seemingly endless desire for food, shelter, recreation and infrastructural facilities and urbanization in general. This has placed enormous pressure on ecosystem stability and environmentally sound living conditions. Flooding has become an annual event for Nigerian cities—where it consistently causes economic problems in the rainy season. Effort made by the government and residents to forestall this problem has produced sub-optimal results. There is a need to adopt more proactive, standard and reliable procedures that can offer sustainable outcomes and restore the socioeconomic growth of urban areas. Frequency of flooding is due to a number of factors relating to differing climatological patterns of precipitation, urban growth and increase in paved surfaces. The aim of this review is to utilize a conceptual framework to assess and identify areas within Nigeria prone to flooding and examine possible means of alleviating damage and harm.