Whilst the reality that climate change impacts on their environment in an unnecessarily rough manner is still very much niche understanding to Nigerians, the warning never stops coming to the obtuse ones who now have notification from the Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency (NIHSA) to process because in neighbouring Cameroon, the Lagdo dam will commence gradual discharges, which then brings back past memories of when it has led to devastating flood.

Tuesday was a day after the Eid-e-Milad-un-Nabi holiday also called Mawlid, marking the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad. As most workers after a long weekend settled back to their desks came NIHSA’s press statement informing about the discharge of controlled water releases at a rate of 100m³/s (8,640,000m³/day) in the first week.

When this initial entry expires, it is expected that water released from the dam will progressively escalate to 1000m³/s over the next seven days based on the inflow from the upstream Garoua River in the northeast of Cameroon but close to Burutu in Delta state.

The Garoua River, as explained in the NIHSA’s statement, is a primary source into the reservoir and a significant tributary to the Benue River, which explains the connectedness Nigerian states feel to the Lagdo dam.

And this connection is constantly fresh, like what happened in Benue in 2012 when the effect of water being released from Lagdo preceded the disastrous outcomes that magnified the suffering of up to two million residents of Maiduguri in Borno state last week, when a different dam led to flooding and released ferocious reptiles like crocodiles and exotic birds to roam freely within Maiduguri.

No ostrich was seen strolling trance-like 12 years back when the Lagdo dam released into River Benue, but there were dangerous marine life seen within human living spaces, as well as hectares of farmland were covered by flood water and therefore damaging the season’s harvest.

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After Benue State in the latest Nigerian Hydrological Service Agency presser, there are 10 other sub-nationals whose governments need to take urgent precaution to guard against a catastrophe similar to that in Benue.

There were 25 deaths reportedly recorded in Adamawa in 2022 when water was released from the Lagdo dam, hence NIHSA is putting it on alert. Further on the list are Taraba, Nasarawa, Kogi, Edo, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Rivers and Delta with its closer ties to Cameroon.

Meiza Nigeria