List Of States To Be Affected By Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam Opening

List Of States To Be Affected By Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam Opening

Shortly after the commencement of talks between the Federal Government and Cameroonian authorities, Cameroon, a neighboring Central African nation to Nigeria, has officially released water from its Lagdo Dam. However, the impact of this water release on Nigeria will not be evident until the following week.

This announcement of the planned water release had triggered panic in numerous states, prompting the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to issue flood alerts and advise residents in low-lying areas to relocate to higher ground.

States such as Edo, Delta, Rivers, Anambra, Enugu, Bayelsa, Kogi, Kebbi, Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, and Niger were identified as potential targets of the opening of the dam and the potential floods caused by heavy rains.

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NEMA had previously reported that last year’s flooding claimed the lives of 662 individuals, injured 3,174, and displaced 2,430,445. Thousands of homes, hectares of farmland, and national assets were also damaged by the floods, which were exacerbated by the opening of the Lagdo Dam.

During the Federal Executive Council (FEC) inaugural meeting in Abuja, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, confirmed the dam’s opening.

She mentioned that President Bola Tinubu had directed her, along with Joseph Utsev (Water Resources and Sanitation), Bello Goronyo (Minister of State, Water Resources and Sanitation), and Ishaq Salako (Environment), to brief reporters on the developments.

Edu stressed the importance of coordinating with the Vice-President’s office and the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) to mitigate the potential impact of the upcoming floods. She urged state governments and communities likely to be affected to initiate immediate evacuations.