MILLIONS PEOPLE IN NIGERIA DISPLACED BY FLOODS

Almost half of the population in Nigeria's central-northern Jigawa state has been displaced after authorities had to open floodgates on two swollen rivers.
"We have about two million people affected," in a state which has 4.3 million people, Umar Kyari, the spokesman of Jigawa state, said on Friday.

• He said the flooding was caused after authorities opened floodgates of the Challawa and Tiga dams in neighbouring Kano state to avoid overflowing following heavy rains.
• "When the rains became too much they realised the water was too much and opened the dams," Kyari told AFP news agency from Dutse, the capital of Jigawa state.
• "Over 5,000 villages in 11 of our 27 local government areas were affected. It started more than two months ago and it's continuing as I speak," he said.
• Aminu Mohammed, the state information commissioner, said local officials had begun putting displaced families in rural schoolhouses and other government buildings out of the reach of the flood waters.
• "The flood has washed away all the farms and houses," he said.
• Flood waters have submerged about 90,000 hectares [222,400 acres] of farmland with food and livestock estimated at 4.5bn naira [$30m] destroyed.
• Seyi Soremekun, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said volunteers had already reached Jigawa and Sokoto states to offer assistance.
• "I think the most pressing need is how to put the victims, those affected, in shelter from the harsh weather," Soremekun said.
• "They need blankets; they need some personal effects to at least deal with or absorb the shock of displacement."
• Kyari said that although the floodgates are opened almost every year to avoid overflowing and waters wash away villages on the low-lying plains of the state, "this year is just very bad".

Nigeria, an oil-rich nation of 150 million in West Africa, typically has strong seasonal rains that wash through the country. However, this year has seen particularly strong rains that already broke a dam and flowed over levees in another northern state.

Source: The Agencies