Nigeria Lost $6.681 In 6 Months To Flooding, Says Humanitarian Minister
By Abdullahi Ahmad Bamalli
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, has disclosed that a total of 6.681 dollars has been lost to various degrees of flood disasters within six months across the federation.
Farouq, who made this known while briefing journalists on Friday in Abuja, noted that all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, have been affected by the 2022 flood in Nigeria; with varying degrees of damages and people affected.
According to her, “Analysis estimates that the total direct economic damages, based on currently reported statistics as of November 25th are in the range of US$3.79 billion to US$9.12 billion with the best, median, estimate at US$6.68 billion”.
She said the extent of the population affected and houses damaged or destroyed is worse than the 2012 flooding in some localized areas.
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Farouq noted that This includes damages to residential and non-residential buildings, and building contents, as well as damages to infrastructure, productive sectors and cropland.
The minister also stated that estimated median damages are thus generally lower than the 2012 assessment, PDNA, but some localized areas may have experienced greater impacts than in 2012 and past seasons such as 2018.
“The number of persons affected has risen over the season since June up to between 4.4 million and 4.9 million affected people as of November 25th, and around 2% of the country’s population.
“In terms of destroyed and damaged buildings, there is significant damage in many states, with counting still ongoing. There is significant damage to infrastructure including roads, irrigation and river infrastructure as well as WASH and electricity infrastructure with around $1.23 billion ($0.959-$1.724 billion) in damage expected”.
“Damage to crops, associated water infrastructure, fisheries and livestock was also severe. Worse affected States are Jigawa, Rivers, Taraba, Cross River, and Delta. Well over 650,000 hectares of crops have been reportedly damaged, with modelling and other reports suggesting this is expected to increase past 1,000,000 hectares damaged or destroyed. The median estimate of these damages is around $1.837 billion with a significant range ($526 million – $2.473 billion) given changing yields, damage ratios, replanting possibilities, and uncertainties in market values of crops, livestock, and fisheries”.
“On a general note, the GRADE assessment gives an overview of the nature of the flood disaster and its impact across Nigeria. It gave the sectoral and State-by-State effect that is critical for planning. It becomes a vital tool for understanding the effects of the flood on people, their coping capacity and who are the most vulnerable groups. It can also be used to identify the most urgent recovery needs and the best methods of the reconstruction of critical sector/infrastructure”.
She called on all responding MDAs in Federal, State and Local Governments to also utilize this GRADE Assessment to ameliorate the plight of victims of the 2022 flood.
