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The Federal Government has clarified the cause of the Maiduguri flood disaster, emphasizing that contrary to initial speculation, no dam was breached.
According to the government, the recent devastating Maiduguri flood was caused by the overflow of the Ngadda River, and not collapse of the Alau Dam .
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Engineer Joseph Utsev, made the clarification at a briefing in Abuja on Friday.
According to the minister, the Alau Dam, located in Maiduguri, Borno State, remained intact.
The minister said: “We didn’t actually envisage that the water level this year will be of this magnitude.
“Because of climate change, the downpour was in excess, and the rivers could not actually contain the water.
“So, more water than was unexpected spilled into Alau Dam, and spilled over the dyke.
“Alau Dam did not collapse. It was one of the dykes that could not hold excess water coming from the tributaries; so it overflowed the dam.
“So, this flood disaster that affected Maiduguri and Jere areas of Borno State was largely due to overflow of water from Alau Dam, which is about 10 kilometers from Maiduguri city centre, owing to massive inflow from Ngadda river, a major tributary of River Yedzaram.”
Meanwhile, besides the Maiduguri flood, the minister warned that there is going to be serious flooding in the Niger Delta region and other southern states.
Hence, the government and people should activate emergency measures to mitigate the impact.
“As we mourn the losses in Borno, Yobe, Jigawa, Bauchi and other states affected by flooding, the attention of Nigerians is hereby drawn to the probable flooding on rivers Niger and Benue and some of their tributaries.
“The daily flow on these rivers indicates significant increase in flow levels tending towards red alert.
“This warning means that a large volume of water is moving through our rivers down to the delta region.
“Therefore, we should increase vigilance on all ramifications and step up proactive measures to address any eventual flooding events in the southern part of the country,” he said.
