Floods in Nigeria have claimed numerous lives and washed away farmland, raising concerns about food security

ABUJA, Nigeria — Weeks of flooding in Nigeria have killed nearly 200 people and washed away homes and farmland, the country’s disaster management agency said, putting food supplies at even greater risk, particularly in the country’s hard-hit northern region.

The floods, blamed on poor infrastructure and poorly maintained dams, have killed 185 people and displaced 208,000 people in 28 of Nigeria’s 36 states, the National Disaster Management Authority said in an update on Friday. Feverish efforts then began to evacuate hundreds of thousands to makeshift shelters.

Nigeria experiences floods every year, mostly due to non-compliance with environmental policies and inadequate infrastructure. The worst floods the country has experienced in a decade occurred in 2022, when more than 600 people died and over 1 million were left homeless.

However, unlike in 2022, when the floods were attributed to heavier rainfall, this year the Nigerian Meteorological Agency predicted delayed or normal rainfall in most parts of the country and said the current floods were more likely due to human activities.

“We are causing climate change, a deviation from normality, through our actions,” said Ibrahim Wasiu Adeniyi, head of the Central Weather Forecast Unit. “Some people dump their garbage indiscriminately, some build houses along waterways without permission,” he added.

Nigeria’s disaster management agency warned that flooding could worsen in the coming weeks as floodwaters spread to central and southern states.

“People (in flood-prone areas) must be evacuated now … because we have no time left,” said spokesman Manzo Ezekiel.

In Jigawa, the worst-hit state with 37 deaths, the impact of the floods has been “devastating” and authorities are converting public buildings and schools into shelters for the displaced, said Nura Abdullahi, the state’s emergency services director.

The floods have so far destroyed 107,000 hectares of farmland, mainly in the northern states, which are among the worst affected and where most of Nigeria’s crops come from.

Many farmers in the region are already unable to farm as much as they would like, either because of scarcity of inputs and because their families are struggling with Nigeria’s economic hardship, or because of violent attacks that have forced them to flee.

As a result, Nigeria has the highest number of hungry people in the world: According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, 32 million people in the country are affected by acute hunger – this corresponds to ten percent of the global burden.

Abdullahi Gummi, a resident of Gummi Local Government Area of ​​Zamfara State, said the floods had destroyed his family’s farmland, which is also their source of income. “We spent about 300,000 naira ($188) on planting, but it is all gone,” Gummi said.

Mohammed Ibrahim from Kaduna, Nigeria, contributed.