Flooding in Benue State (Nigeria): A Profile of Institutional Neglect

With progressively devastating consequences, flooding has become increasingly common in Nigeria, particularly in Benue State. In studying repeated flood disaster situations in this state, a discernable pattern may be identified in regard to the inadequate and sometimes complete absence of institutional response and recovery strategies. Despite the continued impacts flood disasters have on both humans and the environment in Nigeria, little research has explored in detail the social and political circumstances that foster these disaster situations. Earlier conceptualization of disasters as purely scientific events in disaster research, has since the early 1960s been replaced by a perspective which views disasters as systematic events having deep institutional roots with social catalysts that have incubated over long periods of time. This premise forms the basis of the social vulnerability approach, which asserts that in the assessment of hazards and disaster risks, the consideration of social vulnerability must be given equal importance as the purely physical or scientific criteria in evaluation. In adopting the social vulnerability approach, this research seeks to analyze the political and socio-economic circumstances within which flooding in Nigeria regularly occurs. The study takes as its point of departure, the 2012 flooding event. While the social vulnerability approach identifies the factors that engender vulnerable social circumstances, it does not analyze how these factors are created. This gap in the existing research creates a methodological challenge for those striving to link their empirical work to the conceptual work that is currently available. My research addresses this limitation in the existing disaster research literature by identifying and analyzing Institutional Neglect as the root of social vulnerability. Based on a case study methodology, the research adopts various qualitative methods including questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, and personal observations to understand how flooding disasters in Nigeria result from forms of social vulnerability that are rooted in Institutional Neglect. In this light, this research adopts a critical interdisciplinary orientation, especially in its engagement with Development Studies. This is because, ultimately, Institutional Neglect is a problem of development. As such, the introduction and conclusion chapters address the flooding within the context of development.