50 million Nigerians at risk from floods, says federal government

AllAfrica.com, via This Day (Lagos, Nigeria): The Federal Government has said that 50 million Nigerians are currently under the danger of erosion and flood disaster. According to statistics contained in a document on the state of environmental degradation in the country, obtained from the Federal Ministry of Environment, Housing and Urban Development by THISDAY, about 60 percent (553,300sqKm) out of Nigeria's total land mass is prone to the debilitating effect of erosion and flood…

Minister of Environment, Housing and Urban Development, Architect Halima Tayo Alao, while speaking at a recent event in Abuja, said the renewed apprehension over flood became necessary, due to emerging facts that erosion currently ravages areas hitherto considered "as safe."

For instance, "most parts of the northern states are experiencing torrential rainfall, which has led to displacement of families, loss of lives and destruction of farmlands," she said….According to Alao, the problem is exacerbated by inappropriate human practices, as well as natural conditions of the environment which induce upset of the ecological balance in varying ecological zones of the country.

Locator map of Nigeria by "Rei-artur," Wikimedia Commons, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2