Suleiman Adamu, the Minister of Water Resources, on Wednesday, denied that Nigeria had reached an agreement with Cameroon to build a dam to reduce flooding when water from the Lagdo Dam is released.
This was stated by the minister in Abuja during the Budget Defence with the Senate Committee on Water Resources.
He stated that there is no record of such an agreement, but there are engineering concerns while the government is building the Dasin Dam to mitigate flooding from Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam.
Adamu claimed that Cameroon did not notify Nigeria of the release of water from the Lagdo Dam until 24 hours later.
The minister also stated that the Lagdo Dam contributes only 1% to flooding in Nigeria, despite the fact that water is sometimes released without notice.
According to him, continuous rains cause 80 percent of the floods in parts of Nigeria.
Floods have hit parts of Nigeria in the last two months, with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reporting that about 2.5 million people have been affected and 603 people have died as a result of the recent torrential rains.
In Lagos, Yobe, Borno, Taraba, Adamawa, Edo, Delta, Kogi, Niger, Plateau, Benue, Ebonyi, Anambra, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano, Jigawa, Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Imo, Abia, and the Federal Capital Territory, houses and farmlands have been submerged.
Anambra State Governor Chukwuma Soludo said on Tuesday that Nigeria needs to have a national emergency conversation about flooding to prevent it from happening again.
“What is the nation doing to prepare for the next one because we know that it will happen again and again? It has been happening, and Cameroon will soon open the dam in the next one or two years.
“What is the national plan to deal with the next one? Whether we are going to build dams or embankments along the banks of the rivers. I think as a nation, we need a national emergency conversation,” he said on a program which was closely monitored by BizWatch Nigeria.
