The hellish condition of those impacted by the flood in several states is intensifying even as Nigeria’s federal government confirmed on Tuesday that at least 500 persons had died in the last few weeks due to the devastating impact of the natural disaster.

The figure was released at a meeting in Abuja convened by the federal government comprising all relevant agencies of connected to tackling the menace in the country.

Aside the 500 persons that have now died as a result of the national disaster, the federal government also revealed that 45,249 houses have been totally destroyed while 70,566 hectares of farmlands have been damaged.

However, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar, on Tuesday said though Nigerians could express concerns over the devastating floods across the country, there should be no panic over threats to food security.

THISDAY recently reported that a boat carrying more than 80 people, capsized in the south-eastern state of Anambra last Friday, as people desperately tried to escape the floods that had risen as high as rooftops.

In the same area, at least 600,000 people had been displaced, according to the country’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA).

Apart from the catastrophic flooding for states located along the courses of rivers Niger and Benue, at least three of Nigeria’s overfilled reservoirs have overflowed, causing havoc in its wake.

The Anambra tragedy followed the devastating aftermath of a flood that swept through swaths of neighbouring north-central Kogi state a week ago, leaving buildings submerged under water that rose to levels not seen in a decade, according to officials of the Kogi Red Cross Society.

Also heavily submerged are communities along the fringes of River Benue in Nasarawa State and River Niger traversing the boundary between Kwara and Niger states.

“Many people have been rendered homeless in Lokoja … as houses were submerged by flood. The roads served as a link between North Central and Southern parts of the country and many passengers were stranded,” the Red Cross told CNN.

Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Yahaya Bello had revealed that nine areas along the Niger and Benue River were affected.

“Ibaji is almost 100 per cent under water while the rest range from 30 per cent up … We therefore have a serious and humanitarian tragedy on our hands, but I wish to assure every person, family and community which has been affected that they are not alone and that help is coming,” he noted.

The situation in Kogi, THISDAY gathered, had affected the movement of inter-state travellers, some of whom were stuck in traffic for days.

In addition, the situation had seriously impacted fuel supply in Abuja and environs as tankers from the southern part of the country have not been able to move beyond Kogi which serves as a gateway from the south to the north.

While displaced persons are now taking shelter in the homes of relatives and good Samaritans in neighbouring towns unaffected by the flood, Bello noted that he was working to reduce the impact of the flood.

One of the causes of the latest round of flooding, NEMA said, was the release of excess water from a dam in neighbouring Cameroon which it said was complicating Nigeria’s already disastrous flood crisis.

“The Lagdo dam operators in the Republic of Cameroun have commenced the release of excess water from the reservoir by 13th September, 2022. We are aware that the released water cascades down to Nigeria through River Benue and its tributaries thereby inundating communities that have already been impacted by heavy precipitation,” NEMA said recently.

But Kogi in the north central is not the only state reeling from the devastating impact of the latest flood. In neighbouring Nasarawa state, which is also grappling with flood water cascading down the River Benue, farmers are counting their losses from ravaged farmlands.

It’s the same in north-eastern Adamawa, where more people are dying from flood-related incidents.

In the south-east too due to River Niger bursting its banks around Onitsha and Ogbaru, many houses are now also submerged.

One of the biggest impacts of the flooding THISDAY learnt would be food shortage as farmers in the north cannot move their produce and animals to the south while tanker drivers cannot move fuel to the north.

Areas mostly impacted in Anambra aside Ogbaru and Onitsha North are Onitsha South, Anambra East, Anambra West, Awka North, Ayamelum and Oyi local government areas.

In Kogi, the popular Ganaja road leading to Ajaokuta, Kogi East and Eastern part have been submerged while oncoming have had to park by the roadside.

The situation is also expected to affect the price of rice around December as Olam Nigeria Limited, one of Nigeria’s biggest agri-business companies, said the massive flooding from River Benue damaged the company’s crops and infrastructure.

Vice-president, Olam Nigeria Limited, Ade Adefeko had said the incident affected the company’s $20 million investment and about 25 percent of Nigeria’s rice needs, describing the situation as “very terrible.”

“The entire team from the farm worked very hard to prevent the colossal damage…but it affected us to a large extent. We supply about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s rice needs and that has been affected and have lost over $20 million,” he said.

“When they say it rains. It’s not really raining, it’s pouring. So it’s terrible” he added.

The Olam Rice Farm is located in Lukubi Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa state. The farm sits on 10,000 hectares and is one of the largest rice farms in Nigeria and Africa with N140 million worth of investment.

But the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sani Gwarzo, while releasing the latest statistics yesterday, told journalists that the government was working hard to address the situation.

“In the area of the flood disaster outlook, records from the field have indicated that the 2022 flood is comparable only to the 2012 flood in terms of human displacement, livelihood disruption, infrastructure damage and environmental dislocation.

“The National Emergency Management Agency has confirmed that as at October 9, 2022, water levels at Lokoja and Makurdi along Rivers Niger and Benue is 11 per cent above the level recorded in 2012.

“So far the flood has wreaked havoc in 31 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Over 500 persons are reported dead; 1,411,051 affected; 790,254 displaced persons with 1,546 persons injured.

“Furthermore, 44,099 houses are partially damaged; 45,249 houses totally damaged; 76,168 hectares of farmland partially damaged and 70,566 hectares of farmland are completely destroyed by the great deluge,” he revealed.

He added that relief materials were being made available to persons in need, stressing that NEMA had provided relief support to over 315,000 displaced persons across the flood disaster hotspots where state capacities had been overwhelmed.

He added: “The provision of food and non-food items for immediate relief and building materials for reconstruction and rehabilitation is ongoing. Field assessment of the situation is constantly received from NEMA zonal, territorial and operations offices across the country.”

According to Gwarzo, there had also been a deployment of vital materials so as to save lives, adding that the positive outcomes from the field were being felt by those impacted.

He explained that as part of the federal government’s food intervention to cushion the effect of inflation and pre-harvest food shortage, President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the release of 12,000 metric tonnes of grains from the national strategic grains reserve silos overseen by the agriculture ministry.

 

Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar said there should be no panic over threats to food security.

Speaking at a media briefing to mark the 2022 World Food Day celebration with theme: “Leave no one behind, better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and better Life,” he maintained that the federal government was doing everything humanly possible to ensure that Nigerians do not go hungry.

He said this was why the country has large quantities of grains stocked in the Strategic Grains Reserves, adding a lot of strategies were being put into action to ensure Nigerians don’t go hungry.

He said, “We don’t have a shortage of food in Nigeria at this point and we want to make sure there is no shortage. But yes, prices have risen…”

But the minister’s assurances came on a day the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Oxfam highlighted continued threats to the country’s food security.

The minister said the government had also invested so much in the agricultural sector and created employment for Nigerians, insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty was still on course.

Commenting on the flooding situation, the minister said, “We should be concerned, I am not going to tell you there’s no reason to be concerned, but panic, no! Because if you panic, then you lose your sense of ability to put yourself together to produce solutions. So, don’t panic but be concerned; we know what to do to correct and do damage control and we are doing that in every respect. And the government is doing everything to ensure there is no hunger.”

Abubakar, however, said in the face of global crises and escalating threats, therefore, global solutions are needed more than ever to safeguard life and transform our agri-food systems.

The FAO is actively working towards the achievement of food security and nutrition and supporting the necessary transformation of agri-food systems in collaboration with other UN agencies and partners at international and national levels.

He also reaffirmed a renewed commitment between the federal government and FAO for continuous collaboration to strengthen the agricultural sector and enhance food and nutrition security while contributing to the eradication of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition in Nigeria.

The minister said, “As we mark the 2022 World Food Day, the world continues to grapple with multiple crises which include conflicts, displacement, economic shocks, escalating food prices, climate change, and so on.

“This has resulted in food scarcity and affected global food supply; all must come together to bring about the transformation that the world needs.”

According to him, “The day is like a reminder to eat mindfully and consider that millions of people are unable to afford one meal for themselves.

“It is important that we rededicate ourselves to this very important event and its purpose by drawing attention through global awareness, bold action, and innovation to enhance effectively the channels that make our food systems stronger and more equitable.”

However, in his remarks at the occasion, FAO Country Representative in Nigeria and ECOWAS, Mr. Fred Kafeero, said an analysis carried out at the beginning of the year showed that about 19.4 million Nigerians faced food insecurity in 21 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said, “So as food insecurity worsens, so does the risk of malnutrition. It is estimated that about two million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition.

“We need to harness the power of solidarity and collective action to undertake sustainable production and consumption of healthy diet, address the problem of post-harvest losses, and increase efficiency in the use of natural resources…”

Similarly, Oxfam Programme Manager, Just Economies, Mr. William Mafwalal, at the briefing noted that over the past decade food crisis had been increasing across the West African subregion including in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Mali.

He said between 2015 and 2022, the number of people in need of emergency food assistance nearly quadrupled, from 7 million to 27 million.

He said, “The solution to tackling hunger is not to increase production, which is proposed by many supporters of industrial agriculture, no matter the environmental costs. It is to ensure more equal distribution and to address demand-side factors which increase food prices and drive farmland use for purposes other than food production, such as unsustainable biofuel production.

“The answer to tackling hunger does not lie in global value chains. Instead, the focus should be on supporting local food production. As the war in Ukraine has shown, overreliance on global value chains has created massive vulnerabilities, as a high number of low-income countries rely on just a handful of large agricultural producer countries to feed their people.”

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