Nigeria lies in the tropics by geographical positioning. As a student of geography in those days when I was younger and in secondary school I so much liked that subject. It fascinated me to the extent that I studied it up to the threshold of my university education.
At a glance, Nigeria’s Niger Delta and its periphery lie in what is referred to as Mangrove rain forest. The heaviest downpour occurs here over a period of nearly 10 months in a year. Above that region is the Savanna that covers most of the country until we get to the far north that experiences semi desert arid weather. The duration and volumes of rainfall decrease from the Southern part of the country towards the North.
The familiar pattern of rainfall in Nigeria is that it is heaviest and usually stormy at the beginning(April/May) as well as towards the tail end of the season(September/October). There is what is commonly known as August break in the Savanna region.

We are now in October the last month of the raining season in the Savanna. This is when flood disasters occur. The cumulative fill up of rivers and streams from the beginning of the raining season till now sparks off the flood disasters as heavier rain descends. Riverine areas are inundated. Low lying areas retain so much water caused by several days of rainfall. Residents of such areas paddle their ways Through floods in canoes and anything that can float.

This is what is happening right now, especially in southern Nigeria. In a place like Lagos, the country’s commercial nerve centre, there has been three days of heavy rainfall and floods have sacked many neighborhoods. At the time of writing this post a heavy rain is falling. The two-day respite that allowed the floods to recede a bit may be over. In short, it will be about the beginning of the month of November as the dry season begins that the situation will change for the better.

Meanwhile, some lives have been lost and property washed away. In a city like Lagos, the government has been blamed for poor road maintenance culture, a situation that has rendered many roads impassable during this season. The onslaught of rainfall coupled with poor drainage also compounded the traffic situation. Bothered by the criticism of residents of Lagos and environ, the State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has ordered eight civil engineering firms to commence palliative repair of virtually impassable portions of roads in cosmopolitan Lagos. The panic reaction is the case in the riverine States in the country.

At the bright side of what is happening is the expectation of bumper harvests this year. Nigeria is an agrarian country, never mind the influence of crude oil as number one source of foreign exchange for the country. Agriculture and agro-allied industries are the prime sources of employment for the vast majority of the people.

In conclusion I recall the lyrics of a song that we used to sing for pleasure during the raining season.

“Rain, rain, go away
You can come another day.
Children will like to play”