Northern states look ill-prepared for 2024 floods
By Aminu Abubakar
Bauchi, Benue, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe are northern states listed as threatened by flooding by the Nigerian government.
Already, in some states of the country, this flooding has caused major catastrophes leading to loss of properties.
This report SolaceBase examines the readiness of northern states to tackle the flooding crisis that puts the country at the edge.
Already Nigeria is battling with communicable diseases such as Cholera, this disease is also caused by flooding.
In 2024, Kogi State budgeted a sum of N50 million for erosion and flooding control but has failed to spend any money as of the first quarter of 2024.
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In 2023 as a whole Kogi spent only N1.297 million on erosion and flooding control.
Plateau State, the Nigerian Newmap and Erosion Control Program failed to utilise its N300 million budget for 2024, recording a zero percent budget performance.
In 2023, the state budgeted the sum of N300 million for Nigeria’s erosion and watershed project but did not spend any money, while the Climate change state programme project was N402 million with zero naira spent.
The situation is not different in Kano State with a budgeted sum of N220 million for erosion and flood control in 2024 but failed to spend the fund in the first quarter of the year.
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Nasarawa State budgeted the sum of N1.72 billion for erosion and flooding control in 2024 but also failed to spend any amount in the first quarter of the year.
Kwara state budgeted the sum of N195 million as of the 2024 fiscal year but did not spend any money in the first three months of 2024 on flooding and erosion control, just like most of the other northern states.
Taraba state budgeted the sum of N565 million for erosion and flooding control for 2024 but failed to spend any money as of the first three months of the year.
Zamfara state budgeted N4 billion for erosion and flooding control in 2024 but spent zero naira in the first three months.
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This development comes as Kogi received N772 million between September 2023 and February 2024, Kwara state received N622.07 million, Nasarawa N644.47 million, Niger N827.7 million, Plateau N729.7 million, Sokoto N770.1 million, Taraba N673.1 million, Yobe N693.3 million and Zamfara N695.4 million as ecological funds.
The 2022 flood was said to have led to the death of 130 persons across eight local governments; it also submerged 1554 villages.
In 2020, floods also reportedly killed four persons and destroyed over 5200 homes in Kano state.
In 2020, three persons were dead or missing as flash floods rocked Kwara state.
In 2022, flooding was said to have affected over 514 communities, with 471,000 persons displaced and 92 health facilities destroyed.
The state also recorded 24 deaths during the flood.
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, 90.7% of households in Jigawa were affected by 2022 flooding.
46.7% of households were severely affected by the flooding in Jigawa state. 40.8% of households in Kogi were also severely affected by the flooding. 35.1% of farmlands in Jigawa were totally destroyed while 44.2% were totally destroyed in Kogi state. In Nasarawa 42.4% of farmlands were totally destroyed.
In 2018, flooding also led to the death of at least forty persons in Niger state and submerged another 100 communities.
68.5% of households practising Livestock, Fishery and Snail farming were affected by the flooding of 2022 in Jigawa.
In 2022, 603 persons were killed and 1.3 million persons were displaced across Nigeria due to flooding.
The floods also affected northern Nigeria which is already impoverished due to poor economic indices.
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