Heavy rains in Nigeria have resulted in the tragic loss of at least 49 lives, along with the displacement of thousands, as reported by the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) on Monday. The Northeastern states of Jigawa, Adamawa, and Taraba have borne the brunt of the floods, leading to 41,344 individuals being displaced, according to NEMA spokesperson Manzo Ezekiel. “We are just entering the peak of the season, particularly in the northern part of the country, and the situation is very dire,” he told Reuters.
“The floods have also added to problems in the farming sector, where farmers are deserting their farms in the northeast due to repeated attacks by militants, destroying farmlands and affecting around 693 hectares of agricultural land,” Ezekiel added.
High-risk states
In 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst flood in more than a decade, which killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million, and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland. The Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation and the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), identified the following states as high-risk areas for significant flooding in 2024.
The high flood-risk states are Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, and the FCT.
Measures to combat the flood
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utserv, has called on states and local governments, including Nigerians, to mitigate the impact of the coming flood. “The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency’s (NIHSA) 2024 AFO prediction has been following the predicted pattern,” Utserv said. “Therefore, to be forewarned is to be forearmed. We call on all to heed the advice given in our prediction and stay safe. In light of the predictions, we urge states and the general public to take necessary measures to prevent the ugly flooding menace of the past years.”
Recommended measures include, but are not limited to
- Educating citizens to imbibe attitudinal change towards warnings for flood prevention by government agencies and desist from unethical traditional culture and beliefs
- Clearing blocked drainage systems and canals
- Relocating people living along the water-ways and those that are having socio-economic activities on the flood plains by the federal, state, and local governments
- Considering channelisation/training of significant rivers in the country
- Encouraging states and local governments to desilt river channels and canals, construct/create buffers (or detention basins) in their respective constituencies to collect runoff waters
- Modifying settlements to withstand floods by putting up flood barriers
- Implementing effective and efficient operational procedures for dams and reservoirs and maintenance of other hydraulic and water infrastructure across the country
