Active on Paper, Passive in Practice: Local Government and the Challenges of Disaster Management in South West, Nigeria, 2010-2018

Abstract

The National Disaster Management Framework of Nigeria stipulates among other things that State Governments should formulate enabling laws for the establishment and functioning of Local Emergency Management Authority. Therefore, in consonance with the spirit and letter of the local government as the closest administrative unit to the people, it is widely regarded as the most immediate public service provider and the first responder to any disaster. Despite this, the posture of the local government in Nigeria’s disaster management system is not desirable, as it has been a passive player. This undesirable development raises the question of disaster management policy implementation in the country. Taking a cue from incidents of flooding particularly those of 2011 and 2012 in South West, Nigeria as case studies, the paper examined the posture of the local government within Nigeria’s disaster management policy framework. With a view to achieving the objective of the paper, a field survey was carried-out in six purposively selected local areas in four of the six states in South West, Nigeria. Interviews were also conducted with relevant key informants. The study found-out among other things, that States in the South West region are yet to comply with the provision of the National Disaster Management Framework to establish Local Emergency Management Authority at the local government level. Instead, the responsibility is still not acceptable to many state-owned emergency management outfits; a situation that poses a great danger to the achievement of the overall policy goals of disaster management in Nigeria. Knowing the importance of the local government in disaster management, the paper recommends among other things that financial and political autonomy of the local government would re-position it as an active player.