International Journal of Academic Management Science Research (IJAMSR) ISSN: 2000-001X Vol. 3 Issue 1, January – 2019, Pages: 6-13 www.ijeais.org/ijamsr 6 The Aftermath of 2012 Flooding in Ibaji and Lokoja Local Government Areas of Kogi State-Nigeria Adejoh Ahmodu Adaji 1,2 , Jimoh Richard 3 , Sulzakimin Mohamed 1 and Ibrahim Yakubu Ebenehi 1,4 1 Faculty of Technology Management and Business, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat-Malaysia 2 Department of Building Technology, Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja-Nigeria 3 Department of Building, Federal University of Technology, Minna-Nigeria 4 Department of Building Technology, The Federal Polytechnic Bauchi-Nigeria 1,2 gp160034@siswa.uthm.edu.my, 1 zakimin@uthm.edu.my, 3 rosney@futminna.edu.ng, 1,4 gp160014@siswa.uthm.edu.my Abstract: Flooding can almost be considered as chronic condition that persist throughout the year, the economic losses and the number of people who have been affected by flood have increased more rapidly. This study was carried out to evaluate the aftermath of 2012 flooding in Kogi State, Nigeria. This paper focuses on the concept of flooding with the view to identifying the causes, the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in disaster management and recommending measures for effective disaster management. A total of 400 structured questionnaires were administered through self, out of which 323 were screened. Analyses were carried out using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) and Microsoft excel where frequency means and percentages were employed to interpret the results. Based on Likert scale ranking, findings show that flood victims lack knowledge and information on the cause of flooding, politicization of disaster management by stakeholders in favour of urban areas and the traditional method of response, rescue and relief are not proving helpful. Further research focuses on long term preventive measures such as Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM) which seeks to build local capacities and disaster resilient communities for development. Keywords— Flood impact, Vulnerability, Sustainability, Community Based Disaster Management, Nigeria 1. INTRODUCTION Flooding causes significant loss globally and is often seen as the most devastating natural hazard. Consideration from a global scale, it represented 35% of all economic losses during 2013 (Ogunyoye and Dolman, 2014). Both developed and developing countries were not spared out of the menace for the year 2012, 2013 and 2014. Natural disaster predominantly floods are actually no longer annual events but can almost be considered as chronic conditions that persist throughout the year (Kyung and Jae-ho, 2012). This is in consistent with the findings of Muir-Wood, Miller and Boissonnade (2006) that extreme weather events such as temperature, droughts, storms, precipitation and floods are on the growth due to anthropogenic drivers of global climate system and are projected to be more frequent in diverse parts of the world. Just as we are experiencing already that the quest for greener pasture is attracting populace to urban areas. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007) reported that the mass migration from rural to urban areas pose population around the globe at risk since many major cities are situated near riverine and fault lines. Centre for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED, 2012), accounted some of the flooding within the same periods that recorded severe case-studies on the global headlines to include: the floods in Brazil (January 2011); devastating floods in Thailand and Queensland (Australia) in 2011; floods in Thailand, Indonesia, Namibia and Fiji (In 2012). There was a prediction by UN-HABITAT (2008) that the Nigerian coast being one of the low-lying coasts in Western Africa is likely to experience severe effects from flooding due to rising sea levels and climate change and this prediction came to past. In October 2012, flood devastated 14 States namely Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Anambra, Imo, through Edo to Niger, Benue, Taraba, Jigawa, Plateau and Kogi (as the worst hit among the affected states). Thereafter, accounts of woes came such as deaths and destruction of homes, public buildings, roads, bridges, public utilities, crops, livestock and farms worth several millions of Naira were reported. In Kogi State alone, it was reported that more than 500 thousand people were dislodged from their homes. Nine out of the 21 Local Government Areas were hit namely; Ibaji, Lokoja, Bassa, Idah, Omala, Ajaokuta, Igalamela/Odolu, Ofu and Ankpa, with the worst affected being Ibaji that was completely submerged, then followed by Lokoja (National Emergency Management Agency NEMA, 2012). Ibaji community occupies an area of 1,377 square kilometres and has a population of over 150 thousand. Disaster mitigation and prevention are therefore essential preconditions for each other. Pandey and Okazaki (2005) indicate that effective disaster management can fully benefit humanity because it will impact on the environment, serve as a human intervention for sustainable development and improve food security. Furthermore, current development studies prove that assistance in times of