The Federal Government, on Thursday, said no fewer than 10 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, had either experienced various degrees of flooding or recorded casualties as rains intensified.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof Joseph Utsev, who dropped the hint during a press briefing in Abuja, warned that 21 more states might suffer flooding.
He stated this against the background of the Wednesday downpour which grounded business and commercial activities in Lagos and Ogun states.
The resulting flooding brought down a two-storey building in the Mushin area of Lagos and overwhelmed residents while pupils could not attend schools in parts of the state.
Also, a pupil was swept away by the flooding in the Ketu area of Lagos.
Utsev explained that the Annual Flood Outlook by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency released in April had predicted that 148 local government areas in 31 states fell within the high flood risk areas.
The affected states include Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi.
Others are Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe.
The minister recalled that in April 2024, he presented to the general public the 2024 Annual Flood Outlook by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, an agency under his supervision.
The agency has the responsibility for the provision of information on flood forecasts and alerts and monitoring of all the major rivers in Nigeria, including the trans-boundary Rivers Niger and Benue.
“The AFO shows that 148 LGA in 31 states fall within the High Flood Risk areas, while 249 LGA fall within the Moderate Flood Risk areas with the remaining 377 LGA falling within the Low Flood Risk areas.
The minister pointed out that Nigeria is located within the River Niger Basin which is occupied by eight other countries including Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Chad, Cote D’ Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Niger.
“The country is at the lowest portion of the basin. This means that once the upper catchment of the basin gets flooded, Nigeria should be prepared to experience flooding incidents.
FG Warns Nigerians To Brace Up For Severe Flooding
