The Niger Basin Authority, with headquarters in Niamey, Niger Republic, on Tuesday, warned of imminent flooding in Nigeria.
The NBA is a regional body of nine-member countries in the West and Central Africa, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad.
The agency said any progressive increase of water levels could have significant impacts on people and property in flood prone areas in the country.
The NBA said in a statement that it would continue to monitor the situation and provide information as it developed.
It said, “The Niger Basin Authority is following the situation and will provide information as it develops. Consultation can be done for the follow-up of flood forecasts.”
The Director General, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, Moses Beckley, had said Nigeria should expect more floods of the magnitude comparable to that of 2012.
He said the flood alert level issued by the NBA was above normal which Nigeria should be wary of.
Beckley said, “It is above normal. The consequence of that is that there will be more flow into the Nigeria area through the River Niger.
“Since Nigeria is low land, the effect is that as that water comes, expect the water to have arrived in Nigeria from three days after the alert.
“The Jebba and Kainji dams, which were constructed for this same purpose to control the flow of water from upstream, especially water coming from outside, have been so properly managed.
“I want to believe that they will be able to contain that water, they will be able to release this water that it will not cause devastation downstream.”
Meanwhile, no fewer than 10,000 residents have been displaced in Kogi State as a result of flooding after rivers Niger and Benue overflew their banks last week.
The state Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who was on an on-the-spot-assessment of the flooding areas in Lokoja on Tuesday, told journalists that the state was in dire need of humanitarian interventions.
He called on federal agencies to come to the aid of the state.
Bello stated, “Thousands of houses are submerged by floods in some flood prone areas in Lokoja and Ibaji.”
He described the situation as “desperately pathetic.”
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