Inter-agency collaboration and the dilemma of flood management and policy implementation in Nigeria

Abstract

Flooding remains the most common disaster in Nigeria since its first occurrence in 1948. While the subject of flood management has enjoyed sufficient attention in the literature, the primacy of inter-agency collaboration in managing the effects of flood emergencies and in implementing flood management-related policies remain less explored. This forms the basis for this article. The qualitative research approach was adopted to elicit information from ten key informants from federal, state and local government agencies directly involved in flood management. Three states from three of the six geo-political zones with the highest records of floods were purposively selected. Besides, publications/reports and other secondary materials were reviewed to generate secondary data, while a conceptual framework was woven around the importance of government institutions in implementing public policy. Results show that despite the appreciable level of collaboration among the government institutions/agencies in managing floods in the country, such collaboration is yet to translate into improved service delivery. Identified causes include low institutional capacity, inadequate funding and bureaucratic corruption. Based on these findings, it was recommended that institutions/agencies should be repositioned to play more active roles in Nigeria's flood management system and implement related public policies. If this is done, it would save the country from the socio-economic effects of flood disaster, which has placed a burden on government spending and infrastructural development.