As the global community observes the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction today, we must acknowledge that millions of Nigerians confront not only natural hazards but also avoidable crises resulting from governance failures.
Throughout the country, citizens face flooding, insecurity, displacement, hunger, malnutrition, deteriorating infrastructure, increasing poverty, and the loss of livelihoods. Inadequate planning, fragile institutions, insufficient emergency preparedness, and the failure to place citizens’ welfare first have made everyday existence a disaster for many people.
Although disasters cannot always be prevented, their effects can be limited through accountable leadership, early warning mechanisms, responsible land-use planning, durable infrastructure, efficient emergency services, and prompt humanitarian assistance. When governments fail to identify risks in advance or respond effectively to emergencies, the most vulnerable citizens bear the greatest burden.
The success of governance should be judged not by revenue totals, economic indicators, or official ceremonies but by the people’s safety, dignity, and quality of life. No government can credibly claim progress while citizens are displaced by floods, abducted by criminals, forced into hunger, or left without protection from predictable threats.
I urge governments at every level to pursue a people-focused approach to reducing disaster risks by investing in prevention, enhancing emergency response, ensuring accountability in the administration of disaster funds, and delivering prompt relief and lasting rehabilitation to affected communities.
Nigeria must not accept avoidable suffering as normal. Protecting the safety, security, and welfare of our people is a core responsibility of government. We must create a nation in which sound governance limits risks, safeguards lives, and affords every citizen a fair opportunity to live in safety and dignity.
Nigerians thoroughly insulated from the most severe effects of disasters is OK and POssible.
-PO