Nigeria: Floods - Situation Report No. 1 (as of 25 September 2024)

This report is produced by OCHA Nigeria in collaboration with humanitarian partners. It was issued on 25 September 2024. The next report will be issued on or around 2 October.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Flood-affected people start returning home as floodwaters recede in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) and Jere local government areas (LGAs).
• Cholera outbreaks declared in Adamawa; cases reported in Borno and Yobe.
• Five million people face critical food insecurity in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states due to flood damage to croplands at the height of the lean season.
• More than half a million people are affected by floods in the BAY states.
• Adamawa and other states along the Benue River system on high alert for flooding following opening of Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam.
• More than 1.15 million people in Nigeria affected by floods across in 31 states.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Flood-affected people start returning home in MMC and Jere as floodwaters recede

Floodwaters have receded in MMC and Jere LGAs two weeks after the 9 September collapse of the Alau Dam in Borno’s Konduga LGA. As a result, and in response to ongoing efforts to reduce and consolidate temporary relocation sites, the number of people displaced by flooding has reduced from about 400,000 people housed in 36 sites at the height of the crisis to 150,000 people in 22 sites, as of 24 September.

However, there are a significant number of people who will not be able to return to their homes immediately. This includes those who have lost their homes and people who were already internally displaced by conflict prior to the floods. These people will require sustained humanitarian support. Many of the temporary relocation sites are overcrowded and unsanitary with limited clean water and pose health and protection risks for vulnerable groups such as unaccompanied children, people living with disabilities and older persons.

On 24 September, the Governor of Borno State, Professor Babagana Zulum, formally launched the return of affected people home in Gwange 1 where he flagged off the disbursement of dry food items, essential household items, and cash for 4,000 households. On 23 September, the Borno State Government (BSG) inaugurated an Expanded Flood Disaster Relief Disbursement Committee, comprising Government and UN agencies as well as civil society organisations, among other partners to oversee the return. The UN agencies are the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The reduction and consolidation of temporary relocation sites is ongoing to better manage the situation and to ensure the return of public facilities such as schools to their intended purpose. Schools in Borno have been closed for weeks due to the floods, with some of them repurposed to accommodate flood-affected people.

In support of the Government, the UN and partners continue to respond with food and non-food items (NFIs), multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA), clean water, sanitation and hygiene support, health care (including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services), vaccination, protection services for gender-based violence (GBV) and family tracing and reunification of unaccompanied children, provision of dignity and hygiene kits, among other urgent interventions.

The risk of disease outbreaks such as cholera remains high. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the BSG have set up surveillance systems and strengthened case management and reporting. The BSG with support from UNICEF and WHO has launched an integrated oral cholera and measles vaccination campaign, along with vitamin A supplementation in 31 temporary relocation sites and host communities in MMC, Jere, and Konduga LGAs. Treatment centres have also been set up in two main hospitals in MMC, specifically to treat children. Risk factors include contaminated water sources due to flooding, the movement of people from relocation sites to communities and public gatherings. Minimal access to health services in affected areas is also a challenge.

As the flood response moves into the early recovery phase, efforts will focus on the restoration of basic services, in particular primary health care and water facilities, schools, and other critical infrastructure, shelter solutions and the promotion of livelihoods among affected communities. Two of the major hospitals in Maiduguri were affected by the flooding, as were a large number of primary health care facilities. Some key roads and bridges remain unusable.

The UN Development Programme (UNDP) plans to undertake a joint assessment with the BSG to gauge requirements for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure. Under the leadership of the BSG, OCHA and partners will also coordinate a joint multi-sectoral needs assessment in the coming days to further inform ongoing response efforts. Camp management and camp coordination services as well as emergency shelter and housing repairs will also be needed to help build resilience through out-of-camp initiatives and for the proper decommissioning of temporary sites.