Delivering lifesaving health services for flood-displaced families in Nigeria

Borno state, in northeastern Nigeria, has been severely impacted by recent floods, which have displaced more than 400 000 people and led to 37 deaths. The flooding, mostly affecting the municipal area of Maiduguri, the state’s capital, has also caused significant damage to agricultural land and infrastructure, including health facilities. Almost 90 000 vulnerable people have been forced to take shelter in temporary camps with limited access to food, clean water and health services.

Displaced populations are at especially high risk from malnutrition, and diseases such as cholera, malaria and measles, in a region where already fragile health systems are under considerable additional strain.

Aisha Mafa, a mother of five, relocated to Gubio camp on the outskirts of Maiduguri, after floods displaced her family from their home in Old Maiduguri district in September 2024. Soon afterwards, one of her children fell ill with a high fever. "My friends advised me to take him to the clinic at the camp, where services were free," Mafa recalls.

Recognizing the urgent health needs of displaced people, World Health Organization (WHO), with financial support from USAID and the Government of Germany, deployed five mobile health teams comprising 35 public health experts, to assist local health authorities in Gubio, as well as four other temporary camps in Maiduguri municipal area.

The health workers quickly diagnosed Mafa’s son with malaria and provided treatment. Within days, his condition has improved. "Without the health workers, I don’t know what would have happened to my son," Mafa says. “I take comfort to know that my children and I can get free health services here.”

“Since we started, we’ve treated around 9000 people,” says Martha Sini, the Local Government Area Facilitator for the mobile health team in Gubio camp, which is currently home to more than 36 000 displaced people. “Routine immunization, maternal care and clinical services are vital for protecting the health of the community, especially women and children.”

Children in temporary camps like Gubio are at particularly high risk from vaccine-preventable diseases. To address this, mobile health teams have conducted regular vaccination drives, reaching over 12 300 children since the start of the floods in mid-September 2024. Vaccines include those recommended in the current state routine immunization schedule and coverage includes children who have missed doses because of being displaced.

Such efforts have been integrated into the state government’s existing cholera, measles and vitamin A vaccination campaigns, ensuring more comprehensive protection for these vulnerable populations.

Maternal health is another key focus for the mobile health teams. In Gubio camp’s two-room clinic, health teams provide prenatal check-ups, postpartum care, routine immunization and nutritional support to pregnant women while educating them on the importance of skilled birth attendance. Since the start of the floods, these services have been integral to helping to ensure safe pregnancies and deliveries for over 20 000 displaced women in the absence of hospital access.

Huawa Ali, who is seven months pregnant and was displaced by the floods from her home in the Gwange district of Maiduguri, is one of the many health clients to visit the antenatal clinic. “I am so grateful for this care. Without it, I wouldn’t have known if my baby was safe. Now, I feel more confident about my pregnancy,” she says.

Beyond immediate medical care, WHO also supports Borno state in enhancing surveillance activities. Over 150 community health volunteers have been deployed to conduct active case finding for priority diseases and house-to-house sensitization to improve health-seeking behaviour within the camps and host communities.

So far, 34 camps and over 93 000 households have been reached and sensitized on preventive measures for epidemic-prone diseases and good household practices.

"For the families in temporary camps, the presence of our mobile health teams offers more than just medical care, it provides hope for a healthier future, for their children’s well-being, and hope that they will overcome the challenges of displacement,” says Dr Walter Mulombo, WHO Representative for Nigeria.

WHO Africa

Video - Millions of Nigerians go hungry due to severe floods, insecurity, rising food costs

The World Food Programme says the number of people in dire need of food aid in Nigeria is expected to rise to 33 million by June 2025. The group blames the food insecurity issue on unfavorable weather conditions, insurgent attacks, and a surge in food prices resulting from the removal of a fuel subsidy.

CGTN

Millions of Nigerians go hungry as floods compound hardship

Unrelenting price rises and a brutal insurgency had already made it hard for Nigerians in northeastern Borno State to feed their families. When a dam collapsed in September, flooding the state capital and surrounding farmland, many people ran out of options.

Now they queue for handouts in camps for those displaced by fighting between extremist Boko Haram rebels and the military. When those run out, they seek work on local farms where they risk being killed or raped by local bandits.

"I can't even cry anymore. I'm too tired," said Indo Usman, who tried to start again in the state capital Maiduguri, rearing animals for the two annual Muslim holy days, after years of repeatedly fleeing rebel attacks in rural Borno.

The flood washed that all away, driving her, her husband and their six children to a bare room at Gubio, an unfinished housing project about 96 km (60 miles) northwest of Maiduguri that has become a displacement camp.

Torrential rains and floods in 29 of Nigeria's 36 states this year have destroyed more than 1.5 million hectares of cropland, affecting more than nine million people, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Climate change is a factor, as is Nigeria's poorly maintained or non-existent infrastructure as well as vulnerabilities caused by the weakening Naira currency and the scrapping of a government fuel subsidy.

The cost of staples like rice and beans has doubled, tripled or even quadrupled in a year, depending on location -- an unmanageable shock for millions of poor families.

Mass kidnappings for ransom in the northwest and conflict between farmers and pastoralists in the central belt, traditionally the nation's bread basket, have also disrupted agriculture and squeezed food supplies.
 

'HUNGRIEST OF THE HUNGRY'

Roughly 40% of Nigeria's more than 200 million people live below the international poverty line of $2.15 per person per day, the World Bank estimates.

Already, 25 million people live in acute food and nutrition insecurity - putting their lives or livelihoods in immediate danger, according to a joint analysis by the government and U.N. agencies. That number is expected to rise to 33 million by next June-August.

"The food crisis in Nigeria is immense because what we are seeing is a crisis within a crisis within a crisis," said Trust Mlambo, head of programme for the northeast at the World Food Programme, in an interview with Reuters in Maiduguri.

With international donors focused on emergencies in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, Mlambo said there was not enough funding to fully meet Nigeria's growing need for food aid.

"We are really prioritising the hungriest of the hungry," he said.

In Borno, the Alau dam, upriver from Maiduguri, gave way on Sept. 9, four days after state officials had told the public it was secure. Local residents and engineers had been warning that it was under strain.

Hundreds of people were killed in the resulting flood, according to aid workers who did not wish to be identified for fear of offending the state government. A spokesperson for the state government did not respond to requests for comment.

Zainab Abubakar, a self-employed tailor in the city who lived in relative comfort with her husband and six children in a house with a refrigerator, was awoken at midnight by water rushing into her bedroom.

They ran for their lives while the flood destroyed their house and carried everything away, including her sewing machine. Now, they are sheltering at Gubio and collecting rice from aid agencies in a plastic bucket. "There is no alternative," she said.

In Banki, on Nigeria's border with Cameroon about 133 km (83 miles) southeast of Maiduguri, Mariam Hassan lost crops of maize, pepper and then okra in repeated flooding of her subsistence farm this year, leaving her with nothing to eat or sell.

"I beg the neighbours or relatives to give me food, not even for me but for my children, for us to survive," said Hassan, who has eight children. "The situation has turned me into a beggar." 

By Ope Adetayo, Reuters

Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation

A cholera outbreak has hit Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, already reeling from floods that displaced nearly 2 million people, an official said on Friday.

Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicentre of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency that has displaced thousands into camps and strained sanitation facilities and potable water sources.

Borno Health Commissioner Baba Mallam Gana told reporters that 17 cases have been recorded following tests, but no deaths so far.

"However, we are recording an increasing number of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD)/suspected Cholera which is not unconnected with the flood devastation," Gana said.

Almost 500 cases of AWD have been recorded, Gana said, with five local government areas mostly affected.

Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, displacing millions from their homes and damaging health facilities and other infrastructures.

Gana said that to combat the latest outbreak, the state got 300,000 oral cholera vaccine (OCV) doses from the federal health ministry, which have been distributed across displacement camps and flood-hit communities.

The state is waiting for an additional 600,000 doses of the vaccine to ensure adequate coverage, he said.

By Ahmed Kingimi, Reuters

Nigeria flags flood risk in 11 states as Cameroon releases dam water

Nigeria's hydrological services agency has warned of potential flooding in 11 states after neighbouring Cameroon said it was starting to release water from one of its largest dams following recent heavy rainfall in West and Central Africa.

The warning comes as Nigeria is already grappling with severe floods in northeastern Borno state where a dam burst its walls after heavy rains that have also caused floods in Cameroon, Chad, Mali and Niger - all part of Africa's Sahel region that usually receives little rain.

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) said it had been notified by authorities in Cameroon on Tuesday that they had started controlled water releases from Lagdo dam.

Cameroon has several dams on the Benue River, which flows downstream to Nigeria.

A spokesperson for Cameroon's utility ENEO, which manages the dam, told Reuters there was a possibility that the dam could be flooded, but the reservoirs had not been opened on Wednesday morning.

The NIHSA said Lagdo dam managers would gradually release water in a way not to exceed the capacity of the Benue river downstream to prevent flooding.

But 11 states, including Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi in the food producing central belt region and southern oil producing states of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers were at risk, said NIHSA.

It urged federal and state authorities in Nigeria "to step up vigilance and deploy adequate preparedness measures to reduce possible impacts of flooding that may occur as a result of increase in flow levels of our major rivers at this period".

In 2022, Nigeria lost more than 600 people and farmlands to the worst flooding in a decade following heavy rain and after Cameroon released water from Lagdo dam.

Experts said then that Nigeria's failure to complete a dam of its own that was supposed to backstop the Cameroonian one worsened the disaster.

Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, is prone to flooding but critics say defective infrastructure and poor planning worsen the situation.

By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters

Related story: Nigeria's flood-hit residents lament expensive canoe rides

Nigeria's flood-hit residents lament expensive canoe rides

 When floods swept through Nigeria's northeastern city of Maiduguri last week, canoe owners volunteered to help move residents to safety. But residents say they are now being ripped off by the canoe owners charging steep fees to move their belongings.

Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, is reeling from the worst flooding in three decades after a dam wall burst following heavy rains that also hit several parts of West and Central Africa.

With vehicles unable to move in many parts of Maiduguri, residents are relying on canoes.

Falmata Muhammed, a 48-year-old mother of three said she decided to move some furniture this week but was shocked when a canoe owner charged her 80,000 naira ($49.56) for a short trip, more than the monthly minimum wage.

After losing almost everything to floods, she was upset that "some are making it a big business, using the disaster to make a huge amount of money."

Fisherman and canoe owner Mohammed Yusuf said he still moved residents for free but that some residents offered money to use his canoe.

By Ahmed Kingimi, Reuters

Related story: Video - Humanitarian crisis looms in Nigeria’s flood-hit Borno State

Video - Humanitarian crisis looms in Nigeria’s flood-hit Borno State

Aid agencies warned of a humanitarian crisis and an outbreak of waterborne diseases. The United Nations World Food Programme said it needs 148 million U.S. dollars to support flood victims for the next six months.

CGTN 

Related story: UN agencies assist families affected by floods

 

UN agencies assist families affected by floods

Heavy rains have ravaged 30 of the country’s 36 states, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.

The Government has reported 269 deaths so far, while over a million people have been affected and more than 640,000 are now displaced.
 

Major dam breach

Nigeria is among a handful of West African countries that have been hit by torrential rains that have triggered devastating flooding, impacting millions across the region.

The northeastern town of Maiduguri, capital of Borno state and a major humanitarian hub, is at the epicentre of the crisis there.

Rains caused a breach in nearby Alau Dam, causing severe flooding that has uprooted more than 400,000 people in recent days.

Half of Maiduguri has been submerged and most residents have lost everything. Many had already been displaced by conflict or the effects of climate change.
 

Displaced once again

The UNHCR Representative in Nigeria, Arjun Jain, said the floods have compounded years of prior displacement, food insecurity and economic hardship, with disastrous consequences.

“Communities which, after years of conflict and violence, had started rebuilding their lives were struck by the floods and once again displaced,” he told journalists attending the regular UN humanitarian briefing in Geneva.
 

Assistance to families

In response to the crisis, UNHCR and partners have been working tirelessly to support those affected.

Staff are providing tarpaulins, blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and other essential items. Emergency cash assistance is also being given to single-parent families, people with disabilities and families with young children to help them purchase food and other necessities.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme has set up food kitchens in four camps in Maiduguri, where families can get nutritious meals of rice and beans.

WFP is ramping up support across West Africa, where torrential rains have unleashed catastrophic floods impacting over four million people in 14 countries.

The agency is providing people in hard-hit areas in Chad, Liberia, Mali and Niger with emergency cash and food assistance.

At the same time, WFP is calling for investments in early warning systems, disaster risk financing and other measures to help mitigate flood and climate risks.
 

Urgent action required

Back in Nigeria, UNHCR warned, however, that supplies there are quickly depleting meaning the agency can only meet less than 10 per cent of the urgent needs.

“When the floodwaters finally recede, thousands of families will face the daunting task of returning to homes that have been destroyed. They will need significant support to rebuild homes, livelihoods, and a sense of normalcy,” said Mr. Jain.

In the meantime, the UN and partners are collecting more data to help assess and address the overall needs.

“But we cannot afford to wait,” he warned. “The urgency of this crisis requires immediate action and increased support for flood-affected families, in Maiduguri and elsewhere in Nigeria.”

Mr. Jain said there are currently 3.6 million internally displaced people in Nigeria, mostly in the northeast, and the country hosts almost 100,000 asylum-seekers and refugees.

UNHCR is seeking $107.1 million for operations there this year, but he said the appeal was just 28 per cent funded by the end of August.

UN News 

Related story: UN diverts $8 million in humanitarian funding to Nigeria flood response

UN diverts $8 million in humanitarian funding to Nigeria flood response

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has approved the immediate release of $8 million dollars to support victims in flood ravaged Maiduguri, in Nigeria's Borno state. Severe flooding there last week killed dozens of people and displaced hundreds of thousands of others.

Mohammed Malick Fall, the U.N. resident coordinator, announced the new funding to journalists in Maiduguri while visiting flood victims over the weekend.

The visit was to assess the extent of damage caused by the flooding and to ramp up lifesaving assistance.

Fall announced the allocation of $8 million from the humanitarian fund to support disaster response and management.

"We're all behind you not only in sympathy but in solidarity. We will not spare any of our resources in this response,” Fall said. “Probably we might not be where we want it to be in terms of resources, but as we speak, we'll try to refocus resources that have been designed for some other intervention to see how we can bring them toward scaling up and speeding up this response. We'll prioritize our response around the immediate need."

The U.N. has provided hot meals and facilitated food air drops in hard-to-reach areas cut off by flood waters.

Last Thursday, a dam burst caused millions of liters of water to pour into communities in Maiduguri. State authorities say the flood killed dozens of people and affected more than 1 million others.

Many are taking shelter in camps. The disaster follows an alarming malnutrition crisis caused by conflict, climate change and inflation in the region.

Local residents say food prices have skyrocketed as a result of flood waters washing out access roads and markets and farms.

Borno state Governor Babagana Umara Zulum told journalists the full extent of damage remains unknown.

"The unfortunate flood incident is perhaps the most devastating acute disaster that our state has suffered as far as we can remember,” Zulum said. “Many bridges are damaged and we're yet to assess the integrity of the bridges that form the main link between the two major parts of the city.”

Zulum added that the flood hit the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital, which has the most up-to-date medical diagnostic and therapeutic equipment in West Africa. The status and function of the equipment has yet to be ascertained.

Borno state is the heartland region of the Boko Haram terror group. The group's 15-year insurgency has sparked one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

But the U.N. said Nigeria's Humanitarian Response Plan for Nigeria, seeking $927 million dollars, is only about 46% funded.

In 2022, Nigeria's worst flooding in a decade killed more than 600 people and displaced 1.4 million.

On Monday, the Nigerian Correctional Services announced a manhunt for more than 280 escapees from a prison destroyed by the flooding.

By Timothy Obiezu, VOA

Video - 200 prisoners escape Maiduguri prison after flood

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed that some Boko Haram commanders held at the Maiduguri New Prison were among those who escaped. Not fewer than 200 inmates have escaped after a devastating flood pulled down a prison wall in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

WION

Related story: Nigeria faces humanitarian crisis as floods ravage communities, farmlands

 

 

Nigeria faces humanitarian crisis as floods ravage communities, farmlands

Nigeria faces a looming humanitarian crisis as massive floods submerge communities and farmlands across the country.

At least 10 states have experienced massive flooding this year, displacing close to 500,000 residen0ts.

According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the floods destroyed more than 16,000 hectares of farmlands. Farmers in some communities are now being forced to harvest their farm produce prematurely over fears of destruction by imminent floods.

In Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, North-east Nigeria, overflowing riverbanks and the collapse of the Alau Dam on the Ngadda River have opened floodgates in the city. Buildings are now submerged, and more than 239,000 residents have been displaced, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Authorities are scampering to evacuate inmates from one affected prison. Animals in the zoo have been let loose by the floods, causing panic among residents.

An aerial view of the city reminds one of Nigeria’s massive flooding of 2022. Described as the worst in a decade, it displaced more than 1.4 million people in 34 of the country’s 36 states.

Although this year’s flood did not cause the same scale of destruction, it raised similar systemic issues in Nigeria’s flood management and emergency preparedness.

The development also threatens a new wave of humanitarian crises in a country facing increasing hardship amidst fears that 26.5 million Nigerians face food insecurity this year, up from 18.6 million people last year, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation.
There were warnings

The 2024 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO), launched in April, predicted high floods in 148 local government areas (LGAs) in 31 states, including Borno. The report, produced by Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA), also said 249 LGAs in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are within moderate flood risk areas.

The report listed the high flood-prone states as Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue and Borno. Others are Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, and Yobe.

“These regions are characterised by erratic rainfall patterns, river basin dynamics and inadequate hydraulic infrastructures, amplifying the potential for devastating flood impacts on communities, agriculture and infrastructures,” the report stated.

The AFO recommended implementing robust early warning systems to provide timely alerts to at-risk communities and enable proactive evacuation and response efforts.

It also recommended infrastructure improvements, such as flood defences, drainage systems, and embankments, to mitigate flood risk and protect vulnerable areas.

It added: “Strengthening institutional capacity at all levels of government to effectively coordinate flood response and recovery efforts, including disaster risk management, emergency response and post-disaster recovery planning.”
NEMA prepares

The spokesperson for the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Manzo Ezekiel, told PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday that the agency had sent alarms to stakeholders, including state governors, since the beginning of the year, asking them to prepare for the floods.

He said the agency also met with the stakeholders to analyse the flood forecast and the roles to play towards mitigating the occurrence. He noted that the agency also placed several jingles on the radio, directing residents of flood-prone and riverine areas to be on the lookout.

“NEMA wrote to all the state governors. And we didn’t stop at that. NEMA convened stakeholder meetings where the forecast was discussed, and the mitigating side was discussed. Then NEMA also embarked on advocacy to the stakeholders,” he said in a telephone interview on Wednesday.
Floods ravage communities, destroy farmlands

The flood in Borno, exacerbated by the collapse of the Alau dam, has garnered the most attention and has been described as the worst that the state experienced in over three decades.

However, at least 10 other states listed in the AFO report have witnessed flooding that killed people and destroyed properties in the last two months.

Last month, at least 39 people lost their lives to massive floods that swept through part of Jigawa State. According to the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Haruna Mairiga, more than 15,000 people were displaced and 8,500 houses were affected by the floods. Mr Mairiga added that 12,000 hectares of farmlands were washed away.

In Adamawa State, at least six persons were reported dead in August as a result of the flooding that displaced more than 12,961 persons in three LGAs, namely Madagali, Demsa, and Numan.

In Gombe and Yobe states, more than 4,000 houses and farmlands have been destroyed by flood. While Gombe SEMA said 2,517 houses and shops were destroyed by a flood that ravaged 33 communities, the Yobe SEMA stated that 1,650 houses were destroyed in Jajere and Yunusari towns of the state.

In Kaduna, close to 4,000 people have been displaced by flooding. More than 200 houses were submerged in Zaria and Sabon-Gari LGAs of Kaduna State. In Kafanchan and surrounding villages in Jema’a LGA of the state, floods displaced more than 1,000 residents and killed two children. In Zango Kataf LGA, NEMA said the flood had displaced no fewer than 3,633 people from five communities.

In Kano, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), Isyaku Kubarachi, said the recent flood killed 31 people and displaced 31,818.

He said the floods destroyed 2,518 farmlands, covering 976 hectares of land in 21 local government areas in the state, and 5,280 houses.

The Executive Secretary of Zamfara State SEMA, Ahmed Bala, said the flood affected 9,784 households in all 12 political wards in Gummi LGA of the state. He added that 12 people lost their lives while hundreds of hectares of farmlands were washed away.

In Bauchi, the state SEMA said more than N7.81 billion worth of farmlands and properties have been destroyed by flood in 16 LGAs.

The agency’s Director of planning, Research, and Statistics, Adamu Nayola, attributed the flood to two months of heavy downpours in the northern part of the state.

“The floods, which affected communities in 16 hard-hit LGAs, destroyed and damaged houses, farmlands, roads, electricity poles, and domestic animals. This resulted in significant economic losses,” he said.

He listed affected LGAs as Giade, Shira, Katagum, Gamawa, Zaki, Kirfi, Dambam, Alkaleri, Darazo, Itas Gadau, Toro, Bauchi, Misau, Jama’are, Warji and Ganjuwa.
Premature harvest

In Anambra and Bayelsa states, panicky farmers are prematurely harvesting crops over fear of an impending flood disaster that could destroy them if left unharvested.

According to Paul Odenigbo, the Executive Secretary of Anambra SEMA, many community farmlands had already been submerged due to increased water levels.
Looming humanitarian crises

NEMA announced last month that more than 16,000 hectares of farmlands have been destroyed in 27 states. With the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation’s warning that an estimated 26.5 million people would face food insecurity in Nigeria this year, the situation threatens to become dire.

NEMA has also warned that the overflowing rivers are reaching other communities. The agency has placed other states, such as Benue, Kogi, Anambra, Delta, Imo, Rivers, and Bayelsa, on alert.

With the flood in Maiduguri, Mr Ezekiel said NEMA has deployed some of the facilities used in Jigawa to Maiduguri. He listed them as including life jackets, rescue boats, spreaders and cutters, and a mobile water treatment plant.

“As I speak to you now, since Jigawa has stabilised with the situation in Maiduguri, our facilities have been moved to Maiduguri to support the ongoing rescue operations that are ongoing there now,” he added.

He, therefore, called for preparedness in the central and southern states, noting that the “water will naturally flow downward.”

By Qosim Suleiman, Premium Times

Floods in northeastern Nigeria affect one million people

Severe flooding in northeastern Nigeria has killed at least 30 people and affected more than one million others, the authorities have said.

The collapse of the Alau dam on the Ngadda river in Borno State on Tuesday caused some of the state’s worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago, and prompted residents to flee their homes.

The state government said on Wednesday that the dam was at capacity due to unusually high rains. Officials expected the death toll to rise.

The current flooding comes nearly two years after Nigeria’s worst flooding in a decade killed more than 600 people across the country.

Ezekiel Manzo, spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency, on Wednesday put the death toll at 30.

“One million people have been affected so far,” said an aide for Borno State Governor Babagana Zulum, adding that as efforts to document displaced people begin, that number could rise to nearly two million.

Residents of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State, said food has become expensive since the central market was destroyed in the floods.

The swirling waters partially destroyed a local zoo and several animals escaped. Mary Mamza, a Maiduguri resident, said people were afraid to leave their homes after an escaped crocodile was killed near her home.

West Africa has experienced some of its worst flooding in decades. More than 2.3 million people have been affected so far this year, which is a threefold increase from last year, according to the United Nations.

African nations are losing up to 5 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) every year as they bear a heavier burden than the rest of the world from climate change, a new report said on Monday after one of the continent’s hottest years on record.

The World Meteorological Organization said many African nations are spending up to 9 percent of their budgets for climate adaptation policies.

Al Jazeera

Related story: Dam collapse in Nigeria sweeps deadly reptiles into flooded communities

Dam collapse in Nigeria sweeps deadly reptiles into flooded communities

A dam collapsed Tuesday in northeastern Nigeria unleashing severe flooding that prompted evacuations and swept deadly reptiles from a zoo into communities in the area, local officials and a zoo manager said.

The collapse of the Alau dam in the state of Borno caused some of the state's worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago, and prompted many residents to flee their homes. The dam was at full capacity due to unusually high rains, according to the state government.

About 15 per cent of the Borno state capital Maiduguri was under water, Nahum Daso, the state's police spokesperson told The Associated Press. No death toll from the flooding has been released yet.

At the Borno State Museum Park, the flooding killed about 80 per cent of the animals while an unspecified number of reptiles escaped, zoo general manager Ali Abatcha Don Best said.

"Some deadly animals have been washed away into our communities, animals like crocodiles and snakes," the zoo manager said.

The local authorities issued a flooding alert and an immediate evacuation order for residents close to river banks, Usman Tar, Borno's commissioner for information and internal security said. All schools in the state will close for the next two weeks, he added.

The dam collapse is compounding a humanitarian crisis in Borno over the past decade due to the activities of Boko Haram insurgents. The insurgency, which has spilled across borders around Lake Chad, has killed more than 35,000 people, displaced 2.6 million others in the country's north-east region.

Boko Haram, with one branch allied to the Islamic State group, wants to install an Islamic state in Nigeria, West Africa's oil giant of 170 million people divided almost equally between a mainly Christian south and a predominantly Muslim north.

Earlier this year, at least 18 people were killed by suicide bombers in a coordinated attack targeting a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in Borno.

AP

At least 170 killed in weeks of flooding in Nigeria

At least 170 people have died and more than 200,000 others are displaced following weeks of flooding in Africa’s most populous country, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s disaster management agency told CNN Tuesday.

Northern Nigeria has been hit hardest by the floods, according to Manzo Ezekiel, who speaks for the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA). Other parts of the country however remain at risk, he added, amid torrential rains and the rising water levels of its two largest rivers — the Niger and the Benue.

“The pattern of flooding in Nigeria is such that it usually happens on the northern side before moving to the central and the southern parts… because the water flows downwards,” Ezekiel said. “In the coming days, the central parts will soon witness similar floods, and even downwards to the southern parts.”

Although parts of Nigeria are prone to floods during the rainy season, Ezekiel said this year’s flooding has been reported in areas where it had previously been rare.

“The situation is such that some places that were not previously known to be prone to floods are experiencing floods this time because of climate change,” he told CNN.

Environmentalists partly blame the country’s annual floods on poor drainage infrastructure.

More than 600 people were killed in floods across the country in 2022, the worst recorded in the West African nation in more than a decade.

Authorities attributed that flooding to above-average rainfall and the overflowing of the Lagdo dam in Cameroon.

Last week, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) warned that flood waters from neighboring Niger and Mali were “expected to move gradually into Nigeria” while urging states located along the River Niger to be on alert.

The country’s meteorological agency NIMET has also warned of the risk of flash floodsacross the country.

The recent flooding has injured nearly 2,000 people and destroyed more than 100,000 hectares of farmland, according to the latest data from the disaster management agency shared with CNN. 

By Nimi Princewill, CNN

Floods in Nigeria kill at least 49, displace thousands

At least 49 people have been killed and thousands displaced in Nigeria after heavy rains caused flooding in the northeast of the country, the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA), said on Monday.

Three states in the northeast, Jigawa, Adamawa and Taraba, have been hit hard by floods, with 41,344 people displaced, said NEMA spokesperson Manzo Ezekiel.

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.

"We are just entering into the peak of the season, particularly in the northern part of the country and the situation is very dire," Ezekiel told Reuters.

The floods have also destroyed farmlands affecting around 693 hectares of agricultural land. Nigeria is battling double-digit inflation which has been stoked by high food prices.

Heavy rains have added to problems in the farming sector where farmers are deserting their farms in the northeast due to repeated attacks by militants.

The government in this year's flood outlook said 31 of the country's 36 states were at risk of experiencing "high flood".

"We also have information about the high tide in the upper countries of the River Niger before Nigeria. All of these are flowing towards Nigeria. We are beginning to see a manifestation of our predictions," Ezekiel said.

By Ope Adetayo, Reuters 

Related story: Video - Jigawa Flood: Death Toll Rises To 28, Over 40,000 People Affected

 

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People in Nigeria are still struggling to find shelter and food, weeks after devastating floods. Thousands of homes were destroyed along river banks, and more than 6,000 people killed. Al Jazeera's @AhmedIdris reports from Obogoro in southern Nigeria.

Al Jazeera 

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$2 bln extra budget for flood damage approved by Buhari

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari has approved an 819.5 billion naira ($2 billion) supplementary budget for 2022 to help deal with the impact of recent flooding, after the widespread destruction of farmland, the Senate President said on Wednesday.

Severe flooding this year has destroyed farmland, roads and dams, raising food security concerns as high food prices add to concern over double-digit inflation.

Nigeria is also battling with insurgents in the northeast and crude oil theft in its oil-producing regions in the south which has slashed oil output and government revenues.

"The year 2022 has witnessed most flood incidents in recent history, which has caused massive destruction of farm lands at the point already close to harvest season," Buhari said in a letter read by the Senate President to lawmakers.

"This may compound the situation of hostility and aggression in the country," he said.

Nigeria is also trying to stabilise its ailing currency, curb surging inflation and boost economic growth.

Buhari said the new spending will be financed through domestic borrowing, which will raise the deficit for 2022 to 4.43% of GDP.

The government expects the deficit to widen to 4.78% in 2023 as spending rises in an election year in which Buhari will not stand for re-election to due term limits.

Economists warn that the Nigerian government is spending more money on debt repayments than on education and health, but Buhari has said his government had no choice but to borrow its way out of two recessions in the past seven years.

Buhari has approved a 20.51 trillion naira ($45 billion) budget for 2023, up 18.4% from this year.

Nigerian lawmakers expect to pass the 2023 budget on Thursday, the speaker of the lower house of parliament told reporters late on Tuesday after a meeting with the president.

By Camillus Eboh, Reuters

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Displaced by devastating floods, Nigerians are forced to use floodwater despite cholera risk

Nigeria’s southern Bayelsa state is officially nicknamed the ‘glory of all lands.’ But much of it is now a river that has driven entire communities away from their homes.

Desperate to survive, many locals fleeing raging floods which have wrecked their homes and livelihoods are also forced to depend on floodwater for sustenance.

For displaced inhabitants of northern Bayelsa’s Odi town, who have found new homes in roadside shacks and tent shelters with no access to running water, stagnant floodwaters are the only available alternatives for drinking, cooking and bathing.

As she rinses her uncooked fish in dirty floodwater next to her neighbor doing his laundry, local trader Chigozie Uzo shares her fears of catching a waterborne disease.

“I’ve heard of cholera,” she told CNN, “but I don’t have a choice than to use this water.”

Meters away from Uzo, a young girl aged no more than five years old squats to urinate in the same floodwater she had rinsed her pot and plates in.

Humanitarian agencies fear the floods will contribute to a health disaster and Nigeria has already seen a rise in cholera infections as floods ravage many parts of the country.

According to UNICEF, “more than 2.5 million people in Nigeria are in need of humanitarian assistance – 60 per cent of which are children – and are at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition due to the most severe flooding in the past decade.”

A rise in cholera infections could be devastating for the country as the World Health Organization warns of a “strained global supply of cholera vaccines.”

Bayelsa and 30 other Nigerian states have reported thousands of suspected cholera cases, the country’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) said in a recent report.

Bayelsa is among 33 of 36 Nigerian states grappling with the devastation of the country’s worst flooding in a decade. More than 600 lives have been lost in floods across the West African country, its government says, and almost 1.5 million people have been displaced, according to the country’s humanitarian ministry.

Aniso Handy, 56, has remained in his house in Odi, which has been overrun by water.

“I still live here,” he told CNN as he paddled his canoe into his flooded living room before making his way to a dry room upstairs.

“My family doesn’t stay here because of the flood and for their safety … but I know how to swim,” he said.

For some in the community, such as 27-year-old Igbomiye Zibokere, this is not the first time they have experienced the devastating effects of flooding.

During the last major flooding in 2012, her sick mother drowned in her room when water engulfed their home, she told CNN.

“My mum was ill when the floods came in 2012. The water level was high and my sister and I couldn’t carry her. All we could do was cry as she drowned in her room,” Zibokere said.

Zibokere, who is a petty trader, said she returned from the bush near her home in early October to find it taken over by water. The water level rose to her neck and they were forced to leave the house.

She and her young children are now homeless and living rough in a makeshift tent by the roadside.

“We are in a canopy. If it rains, the canopy would be blown away by the wind and we’ll be beaten by the rain. I’m suffering now. No food to eat or water to drink,” the mother-of-five said.
 

Displacing the living and the dead

In Bayelsa’s capital Yenagoa, located 28 kilometers (17 miles) from Odi, floods have displaced not just the living but also the dead.

In Yenagoa’s Azikoro village, residents said bodies have been seen floating in floodwaters around a local cemetery.

Adjusting to life wading through the stench of the stagnant water isn’t the only worry for residents of Azikoro as the cost-of-living skyrockets in Bayelsa due to the floods.

With major highways underwater, Bayelsa has been cut off from the rest of the country. Boats have become the only way to get around much of its environment.

To get to Bayelsa, travelers pay around 2,000 Naira (less than $5) to get on a packed tipper truck to cross flooded roads.

Those unable to afford the fee can be seen wading through the water carrying what little possessions they can.

Nigeria’s current flooding has been attributed to above-average rainfall and an overflowing dam in neighboring Cameroon. But the situation has also been exacerbated by poor drainage infrastructure, environmentalists have said.

With a warmer climate causing more intense rainfall, authorities also blame climate change for the floods. In the meantime, the country aims to tackle one of the major causes of its flood problems by holding bilateral talks with Cameroon on the periodic opening of its dam, Nigeria’s humanitarian ministry said.

“We must initiate a bilateral discussion with authorities in Cameroon next month (November 2022) on the periodic opening of the Lagdo dam,” a statement by the ministry said last week.

Complaints leveled at authorities

But weeks since the flooding began, Nigeria’s government has yet to declare the flood a national emergency.

Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, told local media last week: “It’s certainly an emergency situation but it all depends on what you mean by the declaring state of emergency. We have not reached a situation in my view where the relevant emergency management authorities have not been able to deal with this situation.”

Handy isn’t pleased with the government’s response.

“Nigerians are used to managing. If not, we would have all died,” he said. “Nigerians care for themselves, we’re more like infants that have no father or mother.”

Authorities in Bayelsa say they are racing to provide relief items for the thousands displaced.

According to the local government, around 20,000 people now live in displacement camps, where they are provided “two meals daily” along with “medical services, potable water and other emergency aids.”

But for Zibokere, government efforts are rarely felt in her community.

“When relief items are sent to the community by the government, individuals handling them distribute most of it to their relatives. The rest of us are left in hunger,” she said.

Bayelsa government spokesperson Daniel Alabrah said the government was aware of these complaints.

“We hear some of those complaints but we cannot verify them because while some claim not to have gotten the relief materials, others say they got it,” Alabrah told CNN. “These reports help us to monitor the process to see that relief materials get to the persons they are intended for,” he added.

With the rains still coming and more expected through November, more intense flooding is imminent, the Nigerian government warns.

By Nimi Princewill and Larry Madowo

CNN 

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Nigeria’s Buhari orders formulation of action plan to prevent flood disasters

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has directed relevant government agencies to develop an action plan for the prevention of flood disasters in the West African country.

According to the president’s spokesperson, Garba Shehu, Buhari directed the Minister of Water Resources to lead and coordinate with the Ministries of Environment and Transportation as well as State Governments to develop a comprehensive plan of action for preventing flood disasters in Nigeria.

Nigeria has been hit by perennial floods that caused the loss of hundreds of lives and massive destruction of property.

Currently, more than 2.5 million people in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

Flooding has affected 34 out of the 36 states in the country this year, killing more than 600 people and displacing 1.3 million people.

The UN says the country has recorded a rise in cases of diarrhoea and water-borne diseases, respiratory infection, and skin diseases.

Shehu noted that President Buhari is regularly receiving updates on the flooding situation and is committed to addressing the challenges caused by the disaster in the country.

By Jerry Omondi

CGTN 

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