The Federal Government, on Friday, announced that a total of 178 local government areas in 32 states and the Federal Capital Territory were at risk of high floods this year.
This was disclosed in Abuja by the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu while providing the general highlights of the 2023 Annual Flood Outlook prepared by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency.
“The forecasts for 2023 AFO shows that 178 local government areas in 32 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory fall within the highly probable flood risk areas.
“224 local government areas in 35 states of the federation including the FCT fall within the moderately probable flood risk areas. The remaining 402 local government areas fall within the probable flood risk areas,” the minister stated.
The minister outlined the highly probable flood risk states to include Adamawa, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, and Edo.
Others include Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara and the Federal Capital Territory.
For probable flood risk areas between the months of April and November 2023, Adamu said the level of floods in this category was expected to be high in terms of impact on the population, agriculture, livelihood, livestock, infrastructure and the environment.