Nigeria: Expect More Flooding, NiMet Warns North Central, South-eastern States

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) on Tuesday warned that states in the north central and south-eastern parts of Nigeria should brace up for more flooding.

The Director General of NiMet, Prof. Mansur Bako Matazu stated this on the sidelines of the ongoing Hydro-meteorological status and outlook system (HydroSOS) in Abuja.

This was just as the Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) revealed that the Ladgo dam in Cameroun would continue to spill till next month.

The NiMet DG, while speaking on the current flood impact across the country, explained that though flooding as a result of rainfall may have reached its peak, noted that as a result of the opening of dams and other water holding facilities could still affect states in north central and the south-east.

“You remember, we issued the forecast in February and we followed up with the monthly updates that we are going to have above normal rainfall in most part of the country.

“So in terms of the rainfall-induced floods, we have seen the peak, but remember we told you that this rainwater gets collected into the reservoirs and dams, and whenever they are filled, it gets filled.

“So on September 13, the Ladgo dam was released. Other dams were also released. So what we are witnessing now is riverine flooding. And from the information we are getting, we are going to see more flood.

“And now the rains are concentrating in the north-central and the southern states. So that will be a combination of short duration, high intensity rain, with riverine flooding. “We are going to see more of these floods in the north central states as we have seen in Kogi and also south eastern and south-western states as we are beginning to see in Anambra and some of parts of south-west.”

While speaking on the HydroSOS workshop hosted by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency in collaboration with the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) with support of the United Kingdom Centre 7 for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the director-general said: “It is no longer news to anyone here that water-related hazards and threats has become a global challenge in the face of a changing climate coupled with population growth and increasing socio-economic activities.

“Every year water-related hazard affects millions of people globally and cause damages to properties worth billions of dollars. It is expected that water-associated risks are going to intensify in the coming years as the full weight of climate change begin to bear on our earth.

” In Africa, water-related hazards such as flood, drought have become a major cause of food insecurity, strains on livelihoods, health risks and conflicts in many parts of the continent.

“Water-related challenges facing governments at all levels include securing water supplies, designing appropriate water governance schematic, sustaining the management of trans-boundary basins, managing flood and/or drought as well as ensuring the protection and conservation of our ecosystem.

“It has been observed that one of the major factors to effectively manage water resources and address some of the above challenges is the availability of hydro-meteorological information and products targeted to serve the needs of the different sectors,” Matazu said.

Also speaking at the event the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, represented by the Rector of the Nigeria College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), Capt. Abdulsalam Mohammed, in his keynote address stated that, “over the years, the management and distribution of water resources as well as mitigation of water-related hazards and disasters has been challenging for government at all levels, globally.

“Sometimes, this may be attributed to deficiency of hydro-meteorological information during planning in times past exacerbated by the impacts of changing climate.”

Sirika further stressed that the deficiency of information could be linked to insufficient local-scale data, lack of regional to global coherence in hydrological information and modelling systems, limited dialogue between the multitude of actors, which renders the understanding of stakeholders’ water management needs unclear.

“As a result of these shortfalls, water managers and stakeholders cannot properly assess the availability of water resources on different spatio-temporal scales. Thus, the need to have hydrological information and products that are impact-based, demand-driven and users specific,” he added.

In his contribution, the Director General, NIHSA, Engr. Clement Nze, said the Ladgo dam in Cameroun would continue to spill water till November 18th this year.

Nze said: “Even though the flood maybe reducing in the northern part of the country, the southern part will still be going up. So, we should prepare.”

NIWA Commiserates with Anambra Govt, Residents over Boat Mishap

Also, management of National Inland Waterways Authority NIWA (NIWA) has commiserated with the people and government of Anambra State over the recent boat mishap which consumed 10 lives at Umnnakwo, Ogbaru Local Government Area of Anambra State

The agency while expressing deep shock and sadness stated that the boat mishap though described as a mechanical and human error, could have been averted if the basic safety guidelines of wearing life jackets and avoiding overloading amongst other safety rules were adhered to.

The Authority, in a statement by its General Manager Corporate Affairs, Jibril Darda’u stated: “According to the report from our Onitsha Area Office, at about 12:30pm of the 7th day of October 2022, it was revealed that the wooden engine boat, after it has loaded 48 passengers, left for its destination; but at a point, the engine developed a mechanical fault and as such could not start again.

“All efforts by the captain of the boat to restart the engine proved abortive and at that point, the wave/current of the river started to pull the boat backwards towards the bridge linking Umunnakwo/Ossomala.

“Some of the passengers who could swim jumped into the river for safety, while others tried to push the boat away from the bridge. Those that could not swim were trapped in the boat and out of fear, they all moved to one side of the boat and as soon as the boat collided with the bridge, it capsized leaving ten persons dead (all women and children). Out of the 48 passengers, 38 were rescued alive (5 were children and 33 adults).”

The statement further read: “Despite the several efforts of the Managing Director of NIWA Chief Dr. George Moghalu in distributing free life jackets to boat operators association in all our 23 Area offices Nationwide and sensitisation campaign and training for boat operators and water users on the importance of adhering to the safety guidelines on the waterways; to our dismay, it was revealed that only one of the passengers on board wore life jacket and was saved while others were not on life jacket.”

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