FLOOD ALERT: Senate warns of looming disaster as Cameroon releases Lagdo dam

With the goal of ending Nigeria’s reoccurring flooding catastrophe once and for all, the Senate today urged the Tinubu-led federal government to begin funding the Dasin Hausa Dam project in the 2024 Federal Budget.

The lawmakers demanded that the federal government, through the Inland Waterways Authority, dredge the River Benue, the River Niger, and other River tributaries all the way to Lagdo dam (in cooperation with the Republic of Cameroon) in order to prevent the disasters that would inevitably follow such a flood crisis, as reported by Daily Sun.

A motion sponsored by Senator Binos Dauda Yaroe (Adamawa South) and 16 other senators, “Urgent Need to Address the Recurring Issue of Flood-Induced Damages caused by the wilful release of water from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon: The Need for a permanent solution to the problem and restitution for the communities ravaged by the phenomena,” led to the decisions.

A major section of the land mass of Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, and Kogi States sit inside the River Benue trough, which is flooded every rainy season produced by natural run-off and discharges mostly from Lagdo dam, as Dauda informed his colleagues during his lead debate.

Dauda highlighted the difficulties faced by those living on the River Benue lowlands, where a variety of products are grown during both the wet and dry seasons.

The lawmaker for Adamawa South informed his colleagues that on September 12, 2023, the federal government issued a flood alert through the National Flood Early Warning System warning of the potential for flooding along the Benue and Niger rivers as a result of heavy rainfall.

Dauda continued by warning the members of the Hallowed Red Chambers that unless a permanent solution is implemented, hydrological hazards like flood, which are currently experienced annually due to unregulated releases, are likely to continue causing various forms of catastrophic outcomes.

According to him, “the discharges of water from Lagdo dam whenever it reaches its critical level often brings about the overflowing of the banks of River Benue inundating flood plains downstream the dam, thus causing great destruction to farmlands, infrastructure, and even often resulting in loss of life.”

The high degree of siltation in the River Benue reduces its channel capacity, making it unable to store huge volumes of water, which is a key contributor to the current crisis.

His main argument was that thousands of farmers in the Benue trough, especially those working on dry-season farms in flood-prone areas like the Adamawa State Government Dam Irrigation Scheme in Demsa Local Government, are being severely hampered by the persistent flooding.

If the River Benue had been dredged and suitable Receptors or Buffer Dams had been built in the Upper Bonus Region of Nigeria, the unregulated discharge from Lagdo dam could have been channelled there and released gradually to minimise flooding of the downstream communities, according to Yaroe.

“Areas at severe of flooding consequent upon the releases from the Lagdo Dam” Yaroe said; “and the natural surface run-of are the riverine local governments in Adamawa, Taraba, Denue, Kogi, Anambra, Edo, Delta, Rivers, and Bayelsa States.”

“This year torrential rains and releases at water from Lagdo has severely flooded and submerged many communities and farmlands rendering many families homeless and helpless,” Dauda said. “High incidences of flood along the River Benue trough all the way to Bayelsa State” occurred in 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019, and 2022, as well as this year.

The senator expressed his disappointment with the impending construction of the Lagdo dam. Unfortunately, despite an agreement made in the 1990s, Nigeria has yet to build the Dasin Hausa Dam in Fufore Local Government, Adamawa State, to act as a buffer dam to contain spills from the larger Lagdo Dam.

Adamu Aliero, a senator representing Kebbi Central, has pushed for swift action to begin dam building. Aliero complained that work on the dam kept getting put off.

Senator Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) argued that the River Benue should be dredged in addition to the dam.

In addition to the dam, he added, “My state is also affected, the final solution is to dredge River Benue.” Although dredging the River Benue might not be possible in a year, we can nevertheless allocate funds for it.

According to Senator Diket Plang (Plateau Central), the idea that only lower-level states are affected is false. Plank also advocated for the construction of water-storage dams so that water could be put to other productive uses down the line.

Senator Abba Moro, for his part, stressed the importance of dredging the River Benue as a long-term solution to the issue. He asked the Federal Government, which is currently governed by Tinubu, to “write its name in Gold” by moving on with dam construction.

After much deliberation, the Senate passed resolutions requesting that the Federal Government intervene via the Ecological Fund Office to build flood prevention structures like dykes, embankments, levees, and flood measuring devices at strategic locations along the Benue River to safeguard farmlands, infrastructure, and downstream communities.

The Senate has also requested that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) conduct an immediate, thorough assessment of flood-stricken regions in order to distribute relief supplies in coordination with the states on the list of those impacted.