By John Ikani
Nigeria’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) on Tuesday convened an emergency meeting on readiness for severe flood disaster management after neighbouring Cameroon opened flood gates at a dam to release excess water.
Africa’s most populous country is currently experiencing its worst deadly floods in many years with authorities saying 29 of the nation’s 36 states have been affected by the disaster.
300 people have been killed and more than 100,000 displaced by floods across the country since July.
Nema Director General Mustapha Habib Ahmed said 13 Nigerian states including the oil-producing Niger Delta are at risk of severe flooding arising from the spill-over effects from Cameroon’s Lagdo dam.
“The released water complicates the situation further downstream, as Nigeria’s inland reservoirs including Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro, are also expected to overflow between now and October ending,” Mr Ahmed said.
Several African countries are experiencing unusual torrential rains – often leading to devastating floods.
Experts partly attribute this to the impact of climate change.
Poor infrastructure and a lack of mitigating measures are also believed to be contributing to the huge levels of destruction.
