THE EFFECT OF FLOOD ON LAND UTILIZATION: DISASTER PREVENTION IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Land Utilization: Floods are among the most overwhelming natural disasters in the world, causing discomfort and sickness also claiming more lives and increasing poverty and property damage than any other natural phenomena. In Nigeria, though not leading in terms of claiming lives, flood affects and displaces more people than any other disaster; it also causes more damage to properties. At least 20 per cent of the population is at risk from one form of flooding or another. In Nigeria, flood disaster has been perilous to people, communities and institutions. Recently, Usman Danfodio University, Sokoto, and other parts of the country have been affected by flooding chasing the inhabitants away and so many places. It has shattered both the built-environment and undeveloped plan. It has claimed many lives, and millions of properties got lost due to its occurrences. One prominent feature about it is that flooding does not discriminate, but marginalizes whosoever refuses to prepare for its occurrence. Whereas flooding itself is a situation that results when land that is usually dry is covered with water of a river overflowing or heavy rain, flooding occurs naturally on the flood plains which are prone to disaster. It occurs when water in the river overflows its banks, or sometimes results from a constructed dam. It happens without warning but with a surprise package that always delivers to unprepared community like the ones in Sokoto, Kaduna, Kebbi, Ogun, Lagos, just to mention a few. It has not only left several people homeless, destroyed properties and disrupted business activities, the floods ravaging communities bordering Ogun and Lagos States are also threatening to expose residents to an impending cholera, diarrhea, malaria, skin infections and other water-borne diseases epidemic.
