THE Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has warned of potential flooding in 11 states of the federation after neighbouring Cameroun said it was starting to release water from one of its Lagdo Dan, one of its largest dams, following recent heavy rainfall in West and Central Africa.
The warning comes as Nigeria grapples with severe floods in Borno State after the Alau Dam walls burst, following heavy rains that have also caused floods in Cameroun, Chad, Mali and Nige – all part of Africa’s Sahel region that usually receives little rain.
NIHSA said it was notified by authorities in Cameroun on Tuesday that they had started controlled water releases from Lagdo Dam.
Cameroun has several dams on the Benue River, which flows downstream to Nigeria.
A spokesperson for Cameroun’s utility ENEO, which manages the dam, told Reuters there was a possibility that the dam could be flooded, but the reservoirs had not been opened on Wednesday morning.
NIHSA said Lagdo Dam managers would gradually release water in a way not to exceed the capacity of the Benue River downstream to prevent flooding.
According to NIHSA, 11 states, including Benue, Nasarawa and Kogi in the food producing central belt region, and southern oil-producing states of Bayelsa, Delta and Rivers are at risk, urging federal and state authorities “to step up vigilance and deploy adequate preparedness measures to reduce possible impacts of flooding that may occur as a result of increase in flow levels of our major rivers at this period.”
In 2022, Nigeria lost over 600 people and farmlands to the worst flooding in 30 years, following heavy rain and after Cameroun released water from Lagdo Dam.
Experts said then that Nigeria’s failure to complete a dam of its own that was supposed to backstop the Camerounian one worsened the disaster.
