Although Nigeria has experienced flooding in the past, especially in 2012 when the rivers Benue and Niger overflowed their banks, the flooding especially in October 2022 was on a whole different scale.
About 600 people lost their lives while more than a million people were displaced, the Minister for Humanitarian Services has said.
Whole communities along flood plains in were submerged with about 45000 homes lost . About 70000 hectares of farmlands, especial rice fields across 25 states, were washed away. As a result, harvest is expected be poor this year. Already there is a hike in food prices.
The loss to the disaster in human and material terms and impact on the environment is huge running into billions of naira.
This natural disaster was so overwhelming because many states were not prepared despite early warnings from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency.
Already NEMA is warning that flooding 2023 will be worse than what has happened in 2022 because of climate change.