Floods in Nigeria displace 1.4 million; the federal government begins relief supply distribution

Last updated on October 15th, 2022 at 10:58 am

The Nigerian Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs made an announcement on Friday (October 14) that the Federal Government has begun distributing food and non-food goods to the states that had been affected by the disaster. The greatest flooding to hit Nigeria in a decade has so far displaced more than 1.4 million people from their homes, wiped away more than 70,000 hectares of farmland, and caused the deaths of more than 500 people.

The statement issued by the Deputy Director of Information for the Ministry, Rhoda Ishaku Iliya, also included the information that “45,249 houses were completely damaged.” A spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency said that the high amount of damage was caused by “violations of regional norms” and building near rivers. He said this as the country prepared for more intense rain.

Although the beginning of the rainy season typically occurs around June, Manzo Ezekiel noted that the majority of fatalities and displaced people began “around August and September.” In the northern states, the end of the rainy season occurs in November, whereas in the southern states it occurs in December.

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On Friday, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs said that the Federal Government had started giving out 12,000 metric tons of food and other items to people in Jigawa State (in the north) and Anambra State (in the south) who had been hurt by a natural disaster.

Flooding has been reported in 31 of Nigeria’s 36 states, including the country’s capital. Flooding was also made worse by the release of water from dams, which was done to stop too much flooding.

“The federal government tasked communities to take climate predictions and flood outlook warnings seriously as the government cannot outright eliminate floods but can keep people safe, which is the collective responsibility of all,” the federal government said on October 13 during the commemoration of the 2022 International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. Flooding was responsible for 363 deaths and the displacement of more than 2.1 million people in 2012.