August 29, 2024

At least 179 people have died and tens of thousands been displaced in weeks of flooding in Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency said on Thursday.

The worst-hit areas were the seven northwestern states where floodwaters killed 89 people and washed away more than 25,000 hectares of farmland, the agency added.

President Bola Tinubu said he had received “the news of the devastation wreaked by floods on communities and farmlands across the country with profound grief,” in a statement released on Wednesday.

The floods that peaked in July and August have raised fears for food supply in a country battling double-digit inflation which has been stoked by high food prices.

Heavy rains have added to problems in the farming sector where farmers are deserting their farms in the northeast due to repeated attacks by militants.

The casualty numbers are sharply up from last calendar year, when the agency reported 45 deaths related to floods.

In 2022, Nigeria experienced its worst flood in more than a decade which killed more than 600 people, displaced around 1.4 million and destroyed 440,000 hectares of farmland.

REUTERS