Nigeria declares national disaster as floods kill over 100

Over 100 people have died in floods in several Nigerian states following heavy rains that caused the Rivers Niger and Benue to overflow, the National Emergency Management Agency announced Monday.

The emergency body, NEMA, declared national disaster in the affected states of Kogi, Niger, Anambra and Delta.

Eight other states are being monitored, the agency said. They are Taraba Adamawa, Kebbi, Edo, Rivers, Benue, Bayelsa and Kwara states.

”More than 100 people have died in floods,” Sani Datti, the agency’s spokesperson, told Premium Times on Monday.

”The four states are in very bad condition; the remaining states are being monitored, but if the conditions of the remaining eight states (deteriorate) they would also be declared a national disaster,” Mr Datti said.

Nigeria has faced flooding in recent years, with hundreds killed and thousands displaced.

Details of the huge number of deaths were not immediately clear, but the BBC quoted NEMA as saying 40 people had died in Niger state alone.

Ali Bashir, the Executive Secretary of the State Emergency Relief and Rehabilitation Agency told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kano on Monday that the cost of the disaster was estimated at over N5 billion.