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Infrastructural Failure and Environmental Vulnerability: A Critical Analysis of Public Health and Livelihood Impacts from the 2024 Alu Dam Flooding in Maiduguri

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Abstract

Climate related disasters in Sub Saharan Africa are rising and this situation is worsened by serious infrastructural and institutional failures. Flooding as one of the most disastrous of natural dangers has dealt untold destruction. Drawing from the critical studies on disasters and the social vulnerability theories, this paper analyzes the case study of the Alu Dam inundation in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, in September 2024. The disaster affected over 400,000 people, and affected an estimated one million so it qualifies as one of the worst floods in Nigeria's recent memory. The study highlights several structural errors such as the lack of sufficient focus on the critical infrastructure, the integrity of former construction contracts for rehabilitation intervention, and also the institutional neglect of the early warning systems. A lack of disaster preparedness, limited humanitarian response and over-reliance on community-based coping strategies are among key limitations in institutional responses, which, according to the report, could be addressed by at least increasing investment in implementing the Sendai Framework. It puts the stress on how not just natural factors but socio-political inadequacies and systematic neglect catapulted the calamity. In order to tackle the above enumerated challenges, to include enhancing early warning system at community level, collaring technological surveillance capacity and instituting transparent governance reforms, measures that will accelerate and strengthen the resilience and reduce the risk in the future were therefore proposed in this study.

Keywords:

Alu Dam Disaster Management Environmental Vulnerability Flooding Infrastructural Failure Maiduguri Nigeria Social Vulnerability Theory

Article information

Journal

Journal of Life Science and Public Health

Volume (Issue)

1(2), (2025)

Pages

58-69

Published

25-10-2025

How to Cite

Fagbemi, B. T., Ubani, C., Oyetunji, S. O., & Ukonu, U. V. (2025). Infrastructural Failure and Environmental Vulnerability: A Critical Analysis of Public Health and Livelihood Impacts from the 2024 Alu Dam Flooding in Maiduguri. Journal of Life Science and Public Health, 1(2), 58-69. https://doi.org/10.69739/jlsph.v1i2.1060

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