Flood has so far killed a total of 179 persons in 15 states and displaced 208,655 others in 22 states within this year, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said.
The agency, which disclosed this in its 2024 Flood Updates released on Thursday also said 107,652 hectares of farmland and 80,049 houses were destroyed.
The states most affected by the flooding, which was caused by unprecedented rainfall and the rising of rivers Niger and Benue, are mostly in the northern part of Nigeria.
All the incidents happened in 137 local government areas in 28 states.
The NEMA said 86,000 persons were affected in Bauchi, Zamfara (75,000), Sokoto (74,000), Jigawa (57,000), Niger (30,000), Kano (19,000), Imo (18,000), Adamawa (18,000), Ondo (17,000), Borno (17,000), Taraba (16,000), Kwara (12,000), Katsina (11,000), Yobe (11,000), Gombe (10,000), Benue (10,000), Lagos (9,000), Enugu (8,000), Kaduna (7,000), Nasarawa (6,000), Bayelsa (5,000), Ekiti (4,000), Kebbi (4,000), Oyo (2,000), Kogi (2,000), Ebonyi (2,000), Akwa Ibom (2,000) and Federal Capital Territory (1,000).
It said Jigawa State recorded 34 deaths, Bayelsa (25), Kano (25), Bauchi (23), Taraba (15), Zamfara (13), Sokoto (10), Yobe (10), Adamawa (7), Katsina (5), Niger (5), Borno (2), Ebonyi (2), Kaduna (2) and Nasarawa (1).
The agency said Sokoto recorded 41,000 displaced persons, Bauchi (35,000), Zamfara (32,000), Niger (28,000), Jigawa (16,000), Imo (12,000), Taraba (8,000), Borno (7,000), Bayelsa (5,000), Enugu (4,000), Adamawa (3,000), Yobe (3,000), Nasarawa (3,000), Benue (2,000), Ondo (2,000), Katsina (2,000), Ebonyi (2,000), Gombe (1,000), Kebbi (1,000), Kano (1,000), FCT (1,000), Kogi (1,000).
The agency said 50,000 hectares of farmlands were affected in Bauchi State, Taraba (21,000), Jigawa (10,000), Sokoto (9,000), Niger (9,000), Kano (3,000), Zamfara (2,000), Gombe (1,000), Adamawa (1,000), Enugu (1,000) and Kebbi (1,000).
The houses destroyed were 18,000 in Bauchi, Sokoto (10,000), Jigawa (8,000), Niger (7,000), Enugu (6,000), Borno (4,000), Zamfara (4,000), Kwara (3,000), Kano (3,000), Yobe (3,000), Katsina (2,000), Ondo (2,000), Kogi (2,000), Kaduna (2,000), Oyo (1,000), Imo (1,000), Gombe (1,000), Kebbi (1,000) and FCT (1,000).
The Director-General of the NEMA, Zubaida Umar, who spoke yesterday when the Chief of Staff to the President, Femi Gbajabiamila, visited the agency, said the NEMA had carried out disaster assessment for several incidents in almost all states in the country.
She said funding was a major challenge that has been affecting the operations of the agency.
Responding, Gbajabiamila said a law should be made to get states to remit counterpart funds in order to fund the operations of the NEMA.
He said at the moment, the nation’s funds were scarce and limited, hence the need to think outside the box and get alternative means to fund the agency.
Gbajabiamila noted that he visited the NEMA to know its challenges and think of finding solutions.
He urged the agency to focus on flood and disaster prevention as much as it focuses on mitigation.
