UN Allocates $6 Million to Support Borno Flood Victims as Humanitarian Crisis Deepens
The Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohammed Fall, has announced the release of $6 million from the Nigeria Humanitarian Fund to provide emergency support for flood victims in Borno State. This comes in response to the collapse of Alau Dam on September 10, which has displaced hundreds of thousands of people in the region.
Alau Dam, situated just over 10 miles south of Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, flooded surrounding communities, exacerbating an already dire situation for many who had previously been displaced by ongoing conflict and insecurity. The United Nations, in collaboration with NGOs and the Nigeria Red Cross Society, has been working to deliver critical relief to those affected.
During a press conference in New York, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric outlined the immediate steps being taken. “We and our partners are providing them with hot meals, we are facilitating air drops of food in hard-to-reach areas cut off by flood waters, and we are also trucking in water,” Dujarric said. The UN is also distributing hygiene kits and water purification tablets to prevent disease outbreaks, alongside providing emergency health and shelter services.
UN agencies, including the World Food Programme (WFP), are also actively involved in the response. Emmanuel Bigenimana, head of WFP’s Maiduguri office, conducted a rapid assessment of the damage, noting the widespread destruction. “What I have seen is really heartbreaking,” he said, describing submerged homes, schools, roads, and hospitals. “Over 200,000 – 300,000 displaced people are overcrowded in several IDP camps and also on the streets.”
The collapse of the dam led to flooding across 50% of Maiduguri, prompting state authorities to issue evacuation orders and appeal for urgent humanitarian support. To help meet immediate needs, WFP has opened soup kitchens in three camps – Teachers’ Village, Asheikh, and Yerwa – aiming to provide hot meals to 50,000 of the most affected people.
However, Bigenimana warned that much more assistance is needed, especially considering the ongoing challenges in Borno, which has been hit hard by both conflict and food insecurity. “This is really an additional burden to already existing crises,” he said, referencing the decade-long insurgency in the region and skyrocketing food prices.
The situation in Borno is part of a wider crisis affecting Nigeria. As of September 2024, approximately 800,000 people in 29 states have been impacted by flooding, with over 550,000 hectares of cropland submerged. The floods have come at a time when 32 million people across the country are already facing severe food insecurity, further straining resources.
The WFP has issued an urgent call for additional funding, stating that $147.9 million is needed to provide food assistance in Nigeria’s northeast over the next six months. Recovery for flood-affected populations in Maiduguri is expected to be long and arduous. “We need more resources to save lives and to put together efforts to respond to the crises – and also think of longer-term recovery and solutions,” Bigenimana said.
The international community is now rallying to provide immediate and sustained assistance to mitigate the growing humanitarian crisis in Nigeria’s flood-affected areas.
