PUNCH
• Flood in 204 Niger communities, 17 displaced, panic in Benue, Anambra
As flooding hits some frontlines states following the opening of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon by the authorities, about 3.04 million Nigerian farmers may struggle to repay over N700bn Anchor Borrowers’ Programme loan of the Central Bank of Nigeria, according to findings by The PUNCH.
The opening of the dam is expected to affect 13 frontline states, according to the National Emergency Management Agency.
Already, water levels have risen some states including Benue and Anambra, while Niger is already experiencing flooding.
Findings showed that farmers in the states are at risk of flooding based on the analysis done by The PUNCH.
Some of the farmers, who spoke with The PUNCH, said the development might make it difficult for them to repay their Anchor Borrowers’ loan.
Flooding
Aside from the opening of the dam in Cameroon, NEMA had earlier said about 56 communities in 19 states across the country might experience heavy rainfall in August.
The NEMA Lagos Territorial Coordinator, Ibrahim Farinloye, made this known in a statement while giving an update about the downpour that is likely to cause flooding in August.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government, on Tuesday, said it kicked against the opening of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon by the authorities of the neighbouring country without informing the Nigerian government.
The Director-General, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency – an agency of the Federal Government, Clement Nze, who disclosed this to journalists, explained that in Nigeria, the month of June every year
Asked whether the Federal Government registered its grievance over the opening of the Lagdo Dam by Cameroon without informing Nigeria, the NIHSA boss replied, “Of course yes, expectedly Nigeria wasn’t pleased with the fact that Cameroon opened their dam without notifying Nigeria.
“It happened in 2012, which though they informed Nigeria, but because of the pressure on the dam in that year, they had to open it before the scheduled date, in order to relief the dam from any breach.
“In 2019, they opened the dam on October 10 till October 31 without informing Nigeria and there was flood. So we now know that whenever there is flood of certain magnitude we begin to ask questions.
“The same thing happened in 2022, and again in 2023 after the information got to us that Cameroon had opened the dam. I got across to them, that was when they had to confirm to us in writing that they had opened it on August 14, 2023.”
On whether Nigeria expressed worry over this and if it also contributed to the decision by the Cameroonian authorities to close the dam, Nze said, “Yes, like I mentioned earlier, what we have in the two countries is a Memorandum of Understanding which doesn’t give you powers to do anything if the other party violates some terms.
“Although in the MoU, there is no section of it that says Cameroon must notify us before they release water. But based on professional collaboration between my agency and the relevant agencies in Cameroon, they are supposed to inform us.”
CBN data
Data obtained from the CBN showed that at least 1.25 million farmers in the 19 states received a total of N289.19bn as of December 2022.
The data showed that out of the 19 states, Sokoto got the highest (N49.25bn to 179,914 farmers), then Jigawa (N48.14bn for 175,685 farmers) and Zamfara (N34.46bn for 115,894 farmers).
Others include Taraba (N31.1bn for 154,407 farmers) and Adamawa (N30.69bn for 317,513 farmers).
