The fact that most of Nigeria’s river systems are rapidly declining in volume is obvious even to the most casual observer. This has been attributed to a number of factors, principal amongst which are population explosion and the concomitant increased demand for drinking, washing, sanitation as well as irrigation for agricultural purposes, in addition to the infamous “global warming”. This volume decline is underscored by the fact that large expanses of islands have almost daily been cropping up along the entire course of the nation’s foremost rivers; the Niger and Benue, so much so that these sand fills are used as pedestrian crossing from one bank of the river to another, especially during the dry season. There is no doubt that the same problem is replicated all over Nigeria’s water courses possibly on a worse scale, considering the size of the Niger and Benue. As if the drying up of the great rivers and all other water courses is not enough sad news, our drive to prosperity has compounded the problem.
For the records, mankind has from time immemorial used various water courses for the disposal of all manner of refuse. Nigeria is not an exception as the various water courses have been converted into universal dust bins as well as universal vehicle for sewage and industrial effluents. This is often done without regard to the life forms inhabiting the water course, or the potential or actual danger to users of the water courses downstream. While the indiscriminate and irresponsible disposal of refuse in rivers, streams etc might well be attributable to ignorance in times past, the same cannot, however, be said in this day and age, what with scientific studies clearly showing the adverse environmental effects of such acts and the innovation of more environmentally-friendly methods of disposing wastes both in water courses and elsewhere.
This practice has become so pervasive, so much that hundreds of thousands of floating empty sachets of pure (or is it poor) water and polyurethane packages have become a permanent feature on our river systems countrywide, add to innumerable paper packages, bottles and all manner of garbage. These discarded packages are fast colonizing and choking the entire stretch of the Rivers Niger and Benue as well as their various tributaries, thus constituting a major obstacle to navigation of the water, and obviously suffocating various aquatic life forms in several ways. Furthermore, with the setting up of various industries that use several toxic chemicals across our major cities, and the extremely corrupt nature of our government agencies, it has become common practice to recklessly discharge toxic chemical effluents and workshop waste directly into the rivers without regard to their effect on the ecosystem. The effects of this indiscriminate dumping of refuse and toxic materials into the rivers have, on several occasions, resulted in hundreds of poisoned dead fish floating in areas bordering our river systems.
And local people usually collect these fish to eat, and of course, sell to other consumers! Meanwhile, mounds of every imaginable waste from factories, homes, schools, streets, garages, markets, etc. continue to build up along the various river banks during the dry season, waiting for the first rains to tip all of it into the near-dead rivers. The pollution of our rivers has adversely affected domestic consumption in a nation where close to 75 per cent of the population cannot access pipe borne or potable water. Those who cannot afford the now-famous pure water are left with no other alternative than to consume the fouled or poisoned water. Strange and rather inexplicable diseases/health conditions recently reported in several coastal towns may therefore not be unconnected with the indiscriminate and irresponsible disposal of these wastes and the conversion of our nation’s river systems into one huge waste disposal dump. As if these problems are not enough, the seemingly intractable menace of the killer-weed (the water hyacinth) and various other colonizing aquatic weeds has further worsened the situation by obstructing navigation and suffocating the oxygen and light sources of various aquatic life forms.
Fish stocks have gone so low that fishermen toil for days with little or no catch. The declining volume of the Nation’s rivers has been implicated in the ever worsening situation of electric power generation, since the major power generating stations of Kainji and Shiroro are hydro powered. The situation has deteriorated over the last decade especially in the dry season and the operatives of the power company have routinely blamed it on the decline in the volume of the Niger; a period when most Nigerian homes are lucky if they have up to one hour of electricity supply in 24 hours. In a country where environmental laws are in place, with every State of the Federation having a ‘State Environmental Protection Agency’ (SEPA) one wonders why the apparently criminal suffocation of the nation’s water courses has been allowed to go unchecked. The reason might, of course, not be unconnected with the legendry dereliction of duty, for which the average Nigerian civil servant is well known. The National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) is particularly culpable for this criminal neglect of our rivers that has resulted in this sad pass. The solution to this rot is simple and entails the declaration of a nation-wide state of emergency towards the protection and rehabilitation of our rivers as well as the strict enforcement of existing environmental laws.
• Uzoka (okwudiliuzoka@gmail.com), a two-time member of the House of Representatives, writes from Ogbaru, Anambra State.
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