The Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMet) has issued another grim warning: flash floods are coming. This time, the high-risk list spans Sokoto, Lagos, Edo, Benue, and 16 other states. This came as the Africa Environmental Health Organisation, climate change adaptation researchers, and members of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners, amongst others, lambasted governments following the recent devastating flood that ravaged several states.

However, here is the catch: Since 2012, states across Nigeria have received over ₦620 billion in ecological funds meant to prevent disasters like this. Yet every Wet season, communities from Okitipupa to Mokwa are washed away, homes are lost, farmlands are destroyed, and lives are upturned. Where did all the money go?

NiMet’s July alert advisory warned residents in flood-prone areas to prepare by clearing drains, turning off power, and packing emergency kits. It is sound advice, but how long can preparation replace prevention?

In Owo and Okitipupa, torrential rains submerged bridges and swept through homes. Victims are begging the Ondo State Government for help. In Niger State, floodwaters devastated Mokwa town. Even the district head called it the worst in 60 years.

Meanwhile, the numbers do not lie. According to June report by SBM Intelligence, floods since mid-2024 have impacted over 1.2 million Nigerians across 31 states. About 180,000 hectares of farmland are gone, worsening Nigeria’s excruciating food crisis.

From 2012 to early 2025, a total of ₦622.15 billion was shared with states from the Ecological Fund. It is meant to solve problems like erosion, oil spills, desertification, and of course flooding. But, as climate experts and town planners point out, very little on the ground reflects such an investment. Many communities still lack functioning drainage.

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 Hakeem Mukhtar, a health and sustainability expert, put it bluntly: The issue is not lack of money, its lack of structured, community-involved planning.

Critics are calling for an overhaul. They say ecological funds should be subject to public audits. That allocation should be traceable. That governors and local officials must be held accountable for how these billions are spent. Some of the more damning revelations point to uncompleted or abandoned projects like the Middle-Benue dam meant to buffer Benue flooding from Cameroon. Over a decade later, no dam, just more flooding.

Nathaniel Atebije of the Nigerian Institute of Town Planners did not mince words: Billions have been lost. Lives too. It’s shameful.

Flood in the news is more than a headline because they are a threat to survival. Roads get cut off, food prices spike, children miss school, people cannot go to work or their daily businesses, diseases spread faster, and oftentimes people living in floodplains or poorly planned and constructed areas suffer the most.

When ₦620 billion ecological fund is mentioned, what should not come to mind is the woman in Okitipupa whose shop got washed away, or the farmer in Niger State whose cassava field turned into a swamp overnight.

Until Nigeria uses the Ecological Fund properly, the Wet Season will continue to be a period of grief and losses.

Anita Chinedu