Applying Risk Management Frameworks to the Structural Repair of Flood-Damaged Infrastructure in Jigawa State

The structural repair of flood-damaged infrastructure in Jigawa State in the North West geopolitical zone presents a complex risk environment involving residual structural hazards, recurrent flood exposure during repair works, constrained access, compressed timescales, and limited specialist contractor capacity. This study applies a risk management framework to the planning and execution of structural repair works on ten flood-damaged bridges and culverts in Jigawa State, using projects implemented under the 2022 to 2024 flood recovery programme as the study context. A risk register was developed for each project through facilitated workshops with design engineers, site engineers, and community representatives, identifying risk events and assessing probability and consequence using a semi-quantitative risk matrix. Risk mitigation and contingency measures were documented and their implementation tracked through project monitoring reports. Post-project interviews evaluated whether risk management activities influenced project outcomes. Results indicate that projects with formally completed risk registers and designated risk owners showed 28 percent fewer unplanned work stoppages and 19 percent lower cost overruns than projects managed without formal risk documentation. Residual structural hazard during demolition of damaged elements was the highest-rated risk across all projects, yet pre-demolition structural assessment was conducted in only four of the ten projects. Hydrological risk re-assessment to account for updated flood frequency data was not conducted for any of the projects, representing a systemic gap. The study proposes a standardised disaster recovery structural repair risk management protocol for Jigawa State, incorporating mandatory pre-demolition structural assessment and hydro-meteorological re-evaluation before repair design. Keywords: risk management, flood-damaged infrastructure, Jigawa State, structural repair, disaster recovery.