Perennial Flooding in Niger Delta (PFND) Program
Flooding is one of the major environmental crises the people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria have to contend with. This is especially the case of most wetlands in the world.
The Niger Delta as shown in Figure 1 Covers 20,000km square within wetlands of 70,000km square formed primarily by sediments deposition. Home to 20 million people and 40 different ethnic groups, this flood plain makes up a substantial fraction of Nigeria's total land mass.
The perennial flooding is attributed to a combination of local heavy rainfall and release of excess water from the LAGDO DAM in nearby Cameroon.
What must be done
We must be prepared to adopt preventive measures to cope with flooding and we require both local and international interventions, which could mean: early warning, rapid response system, flood data gathering and modeling, basic amenities and access to health care services for victims of flooding.
