By Teddy Nwanunobi
More than 225,000 people have been displaced from their homes across the country, as torrential rains continue to wreak havoc, Save the Children International, SCI, reported yesterday.
It said the flood displaced 950,000 people, mostly children in Nigeria, Mali and Niger Republic.
This year’s rains, according to SCI in a statement issued on the situation, have been more severe than usual, causing widespread flood damage to four regions (Bamako, Ségou, Koulikoro, and Gao) of Mali, the northern states of Nigeria and the Maradi region of Niger.
“Recent heavy rains and floods across West Africa have forced nearly 950,000 people, many of them children, from their homes across Mali, Nigeria and Niger,” it reads in part.
According to the statement, in Nigeria, flood has affected 29 out of the 36 states – four-fifth of the country – mostly in the northern area.
The torrential rainfall has led to the overflowing of dams and rising water levels of the two largest rivers, the Niger and the Benue, resulting in the death of over 200 people including children.
On top of those killed, more than 225,000 have been displaced from their homes, while more than 2,100 have been injured.
“According to the Nigerian government data, over 115,265 hectares of farmland have also been damaged, in a country with already high rate of food insecurity. Save the Children recently estimated that one in every six children faced hunger in June-August – a 25 percent increase on the same period last year,” it said.
