Retired Air Vice Marshal Akugbe Iyamu, President of Environmental Protection and Climate Change Practitioners, has expressed grave concerns about Nigeria’s preparedness for natural disasters and environmental challenges in 2025.
Looking ahead to 2025, Iyamu warned that drought would be the top environmental concern, with potentially devastating consequences similar to Somalia’s drought, which resulted in 43,000 deaths.
He stated, “We have to be ready for drought … The El Nina this time around is not going to be present but it is going to be visible between November and February and when that finishes, it is going to come with heat. The hunger we are seeing now, we have to be prepared three times over to be able to deal with it.”
Speaking in an interview with ARISE NEWS on Monday, Iyamu emphasised the urgent need for proactive measures to address climate-induced crises, including flash floods, hunger, and drought. Highlighting recent global weather phenomena, he said,
“2024, August 21st to be precise, we had the hottest day in history and that was very very consequential. Early in the year, we had the El Niño and the La Niña… they were able to influence the weather such that the 3 million rivers in the world lost 44% of their water and that has moved into the atmosphere.”
Iyamu noted the growing proximity of cyclones to Africa due to changing temperatures and moisture levels, stating,
“To say that Cyclone is restricted to the pacific, no, it is getting closer to home… because the temperature and the moisture is what is very crucial here and they are all very visible now around Africa. We have to be prepared… were we prepared? No, what we have around here was just echo sound, we will do this, we are going to do that.”
He also raised concerns about the A23A iceberg in Antarctica, warning of its potential impact if it melts in warm waters. He remarked,
“The fear now that the world meteorological organisation is looking at is that let it not get to the warm water; when it gets to the warm water, it is going to melt and it’s going to mess up the climate for 2025.”
Turning to the issue of hunger, Iyamu cited a World Bank prediction that hunger in Nigeria would rise to 40.1% by the end of 2024. He linked this to the Alau Dam collapse in Maiduguri, which devastated the region’s agricultural output. He explained,
“The budget we are having now is not going to address it… what alleviates poverty are industries that can take 50 people, 100 people, and that is what we need to do.”
He urged the government to strengthen initiatives such as the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) to tackle unemployment and poverty.
Responding to questions about the unresolved Alau Dam issue, Iyamu criticised poor maintenance and accountability in dam management. He said,
“A dam is like a car, when you construct it, you will service it and make sure it is serviced… what are we doing to the other 320 dams in Nigeria? I’m sure there are so many others that are in similar conditions. If we don’t have a way of punishing people for misbehaviour, we will continue to have mischief.”
He called on the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to conduct thorough assessments of all dams to prevent future disasters.
Iyamu also addressed Nigeria’s inadequate emergency response, particularly during incidents of hunger-related stampedes. He noted,
“First of all, there were inadequacies, if food was accessible, available and affordable, you will not have that (stampede)… when people are hungry, the two things that become very cheap are dignity and pride. People don’t bother again, as long as they can get what to eat, that is their major concern.”
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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