UN Country Team visits Maiduguri, pledges more support for flood affected people

The severe flash flooding in Maiduguri during the night of 9 September caused by the collapse of the Alau Dam has displaced tens of thousands of people. Heads of UN agencies in Nigeria, together with country directors from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Nigeria Red Cross Society visited Maiduguri today. They met with affected people and Government officials in the Borno State capital.  They expressed their continued commitment to support Government efforts to aid the affected and to mobilize additional resources towards the lifesaving response.

Some 300,000 people have been registered by the Emergency Operations Centre of the Borno State Government in relocation sites mainly in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC), Jere and Konduga local government areas. Many people affected by the floods, reported to be the worst in 30 years, had humanitarian needs prior to the floods, having been displaced multiple times by conflict and insecurity, and are now extremely vulnerable.

Led by the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, the senior UN and NGO officials met with the Governor of Borno, H.E. Prof Babagana Zulum. They expressed their condolences and solidarity with the Government and the people of Borno following the loss of lives and widespread destruction caused by the flooding.

The officials visited the Asheik Jarma Primary School and the Yerwa GGSS camps, two of the more than 25 relocation sites where displaced people are temporarily settled.

“I witnessed firsthand the devastation and untold hardship caused by the flooding, including the destruction of homes, businesses, and infrastructure. I also saw the suffering of affected communities,” said Mr. Fall.

He said that the widespread impact of the floods in MMC and Jere requires a concerted response by the UN and partners, in support of Government efforts.

“The flood affected people are experiencing a crisis within a crisis with the floods occurring at the height of a severe food insecurity and malnutrition crisis,” he said.

Across Nigeria, flooding has damaged more than 125,000 hectares of farmland just before harvests at a time when 32 million people in the country are facing severe food insecurity. In Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states alone, 4.8 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity with the lives of 230,000 children threatened by severe acute malnutrition.

Potential losses of harvests are alarming given the already skyrocketing prices of staple food, such as maize, beans, sorghum and millet, whose prices have more than tripled over the past year due to record food inflation.

The immediate needs of affected people in MMC and Jere include food, water and sanitation, hygiene, safe shelter and protection for the most vulnerable such as separated and unaccompanied children.

Drawing on existing resources, and in support of Government efforts, the UN in Nigeria and partners are responding by providing hot meals, facilitating food air drops in hard-to-reach areas cut off by flood waters, trucking water and providing water and sanitation hygiene services, as well as water purification tablets to stem outbreaks of diseases, such as acute watery diarrhoea/cholera. This in addition to providing hygiene/dignity kits for women and girls, as well as emergency health and shelter services, among other lifesaving interventions.

Additional funds are required urgently to save lives.

To ramp up lifesaving assistance, Mr. Fall announced the allocation of US $6 million from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund, with more funding in the pipeline bringing the total contribution to more than $8 million.

The Governor of Borno State, H.E. Prof Babagana Zulum, expressed his appreciation to the UN and NGO partners for the humanitarian support to the Government and to the affected people: "We are thankful especially for the use of the UN helicopters to deliver life-saving assistance including food and non-food items in communities cut off by the flood. I also thank the UN for camp coordination and camp management support."

"Our priority is to rebuild the lives of affected people and to ensure that the displaced population does not stay for more than two weeks in the temporary shelters provided for them," he said.

More resources and funding are needed not only during this emergency lifesaving phase but also in the recovery phase when people who have lost everything will need sustained support to get back on their feet.

Despite the escalating humanitarian needs, the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Nigeria, seeking US$ 927 million, is only about 46 per cent funded.

Across Nigeria, floods have affected more than a million people, according to the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA). Hard-hit states, besides Borno, including Bauchi, Bayelsa, Enugu, Jigawa, Kano, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara. To support the Government-led flood response countrywide, the UN has approached the UN Central Emergency Response Fund for potential funding.