The failure of the Alau Dam amid heavy rains unleashed a catastrophic flood on the Borno State capital
At about 2 a.m. on 10 September, Mohammed Modu, a 32-year-old farmer in the Laujeri community of Borno State, was roused from sleep by the loud voices of his neighbours. As he stepped outside to investigate the commotion, he was shocked that floodwaters had inundated his residence.
In a panic, Mr Modu woke his wife and four children and rushed them through the knee-high water as they fled their house. "We survived that night," Mr Modu told PREMIUM TIMES in September. "But sadly, my wife went back home to pick up some items and got drowned in the process."
That day will always be a sad memory for many people in the northeastern state.
The flood was triggered by the failure of the Alau dam and heavy rain, unleashing a torrent of water on the Borno State capital.
As the water roared through the southern part of Borno, it smashed everything in its path. In Laujeri, more than 50 homes were wiped away.
"I had never seen a disaster of this magnitude," Mr Modu said, pointing towards the expansive land areas ravaged by the flood.
Many sleeping residents of the community near the shores of the river and dam mistook the storm for the usual occurrence accompanying heavy rains. They were wrong. Several community residents told PREMIUM TIMES that many older adults and young children were trapped.
While some were left behind, those who did not wake up on time drowned. "We lost many families in this neighbourhood," Mr Modu said.
Laujeri is a small settlement close to Alau dam, along the River Ngadda, in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State. The residents are largely fishermen and subsistence farmers who grow vegetables, maize, millets, sorghum and onions, among other crops, along the river bank, where they can easily irrigate their farms.
The community has attracted many young people, most of whom are internally displaced individuals affected by the prolonged activities of Boko Haram terrorists. They turned to fishing and farming as a means of livelihood.
PREMIUM TIMES investigation based on ground reporting and multiple interviews with locals shows that the flooding could have been avoided if the authorities had taken proactive measures. Locals said they were constantly worried about the structure of the Alau Dam and alerted officials, but they were not taken seriously.
Mr Modu said that when the reservoir's waters began overtopping in late July, it became clear to residents that if heavy rains became frequent, there would be a problem. "We did our best, pleading with the authorities to fix it, but they didn't. In the end, look at what happened," he said.
State inspectors had given the dam a "good" rating four days before the disaster. Despite this rating, Mr Modu and other locals said they were still afraid because the fractures on the dam's spillway gates were obvious.
Overflowing water during the rainy season wreaks havoc on the village yearly due to a lack of infrastructure (embarkment) and government neglect.
When the Alau Dam failed, 540 billion litres of water flooded the state, according to a report. Key bridges connecting Maiduguri collapsed, turning the city into a temporary river. The flood also destroyed crucial infrastructure and submerged several neighbourhoods.
The state governor, Babagana Zulum, blamed the Federal Ministry of Water Resources for failing to carry out routine dam maintenance for years. "The maintenance has not been done for a long time. We need to put our heads together so that we can do it," the governor told the BBC.
PREMIUM TIMES investigation found that the dam was poorly maintained. Safety upgrades were not done, and systemic failures plagued the spillway. The failures include regulatory shortcomings, operational issues, and insufficient budgetary provisions.
Following the flood disaster, the Minister of Water Resources, Joseph Utsev, led a technical team to Maiduguri to assess the extent of damage and said his ministry plans to do a total overhaul of the dam, including the "upgrading of the dam, replacing the collapsed dyke with a dam and desilting the reservoir to allow for more storage amongst others."
Although the water had receded significantly about two weeks after the disaster, PREMIUM TIMES noticed the impact. The flood destroyed entire neighbourhoods and uprooted several Neem trees.
Mr Zulum described the damage in the state as "beyond human imagination."
While appealing for urgent aid, the governor said, "Our resources are stretched to the limit, and we cannot do this alone."
Floods not limited to Borno
Nigeria's disaster management agency, NEMA, said last month that floods have killed 303 people this year and affected over 1.2 million persons. The floods injured 2,712 people, inundated 1161,539 hectares of farmland, and completely damaged 106,000 hectares. NEMA said 673,333 people were also displaced.
Several communities and cities in at least 201 local government areas across 31 of Nigeria's 36 states have been affected by floods, which have resulted in widespread displacement, loss of lives, and destruction of homes and livelihoods.
Officials said the floods were primarily caused by heavy rainfall, dam bursts, regulatory failures and ineffective dissemination of "early warning systems" across major climate frontline communities in the country.
The northeastern region is Nigeria's hardest hit by flood so far this year. The disaster was especially severe in Borno, with more than 419,000 persons affected, over 390 persons displaced and 38 people killed, according to official figures. But locals said those figures were understated.
The disaster has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in a state still recovering from the over-a-decade-long Boko Haram terror.
In Maiduguri, as rescue workers search for the missing and bury the dead, survivors carry their wounds.
The family of Mohammed Lawani, the head of local security in Laujeri, was affected by the water. He kept returning to see whether the water that swallowed his home had receded, but that had not happened.
Along with his friend, he helped recover bodies and rescued several people, rowing down the streets in a canoe. "I was volunteering to help, but I am also a victim," Mr Lawani told PREMIUM TIMES.
He lost five members of his family, including a sister, Yana, with whom he was especially close. "I also lost my youngest child, Fatima," he said. "While I was busy working with the rescue team, I didn't know that the water had taken my child too."
The first night after they fled their home, Mr Lawani's family slept in a fish market. The following day, they sought shelter in a mosque, where they stayed for four days, sleeping in the open, surrounded by water.
They had no food apart from water and a few fish. Mr Lawani said he left his family in that condition because he wanted to help and save lives. "People need help. The situation was dire," he told PREMIUM TIMES.
Two weeks after the disaster, scenes of devastation could be seen across Maiduguri. The flood damaged the prison in the state, leading to the escape of more than 200 inmates. The floods caused many animals at the Borno State Museum Park and an unspecified number of reptiles to escape, Ali Donbest, an official of the Sanda Kyarimi Zoo, told PREMIUM TIMES.
One of the hardest-hit infrastructures is the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH). The facility was forced to suspend its operations for two weeks. The ground floor of the main building was submerged, destroying samples and vital equipment at the cancer centre, radiography, and polio laboratories.
The state is now exposed to higher risks of waterborne diseases, particularly where health facilities have been damaged or rendered inaccessible. Clean water and sanitation remain top needs as families struggle to access essential services.
The Nigerian government, through the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), state emergency agencies (SEMA), and humanitarian partners are providing relief efforts across the worst-affected area.
The World Food Program (WFP) has set up kitchens that provide food to the displaced in Maiduguri, as well as emergency food and cash assistance to people in the hardest-hit areas. USAID said it has provided more than $3 million in humanitarian aid to West and Central Africa, including $1 million in the immediate aftermath of the floods.
Farms submerged
When PREMIUM TIMES visited in September, it was observed that farm fields were flooded in different parts of the state, affecting food availability, affordability and accessibility.
"Our farms, the major source of livelihood in this community, were all affected," Mr Modu said.
Rolling fields of green maize shrubs had started in early August, their white blooms promising enough income for his family to survive the year. Now, like others, Mr Modu's fields are under putrid water and useless for farming.
Mr Modu had invested a lot of money in cultivating maize, potatoes, rice, and wheat, which he hoped would yield higher profits, but the floodwater submerged all the fields.
"We were just about harvesting when the rains came and washed away everything," the farmer said. Other farms along the river banks were not spared. Farmers growing crops such as onions, rice, and millet lost all their crops to the flood.
Dam failure, clogged drainages killing Nigerians
In recent years, Nigeria has witnessed several deaths from flooding and dam failures. In addition, across major Nigerian states and cities, clogged drainages and silted river pathways severely impede water movement during heavy rainfall, leading to extensive flooding and infrastructure damage.
For instance, the severe flooding in Maiduguri has been linked to the federal government's prolonged neglect of routine maintenance of the major dams.
Vice President Kashim Shettima acknowledged that the flooding in Maiduguri directly resulted from excess water from the Alau Dam.
Also, the 2022 flooding that killed more than 600 people in 26 states was linked to excess water released from the Lagdo Dam in neighbouring Cameroon. The absence of a buffer dam along that route has caused massive destruction in communities by the river's shores whenever the Lagdo Dam was eased.
The nation's dams were built for flood control, irrigation, water supply, hydropower, recreation, and industrial waste storage. However, on average, they are about half a century old. Some can no longer handle a changing climate's intense rainfall and floods.
The Alau Dam was established in 1986. A PREMIUM TIMES examination found several cracks and leaks that indicated it was failing internally. Also, the spillways were heavily wilted, small, and incapable of handling a heavy flow during extreme rainfall events and water pressure flowing through the Ngadda River tributary.
Experts said if water can't escape quickly enough through spillways, it could flow over the top of a dam, which increases the risk of rapid erosion that can cause it to collapse.
There was no indication that the authorities would punish officials for the failure to maintain the dam. The government also did not say if it would properly investigate the tragedies to learn from them and avoid a repeat.
However, the scale of the destruction by flood scenarios in the country prompted President Bola Tinubu on 1 October to order integrity tests of all the dams.
"Our government has also ordered integrity tests of all our dams in the country to avert future disasters," Mr Tinubu said in a televised broadcast marking the nation's Independence Day anniversary.
The president also tasked an Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee on Evaluation of Dams with evaluating the physical condition of dams across Nigeria, assessing their social and environmental impacts on local communities, and developing a comprehensive programme to address the challenges related to dam safety and functionality in Nigeria.
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Residents recount losses
PREMIUM TIMES toured the flood-affected areas under the Jere and Maiduguri Local Government Areas.
Apart from the massive land degradation in Laujeri, houses, electricity poles, bridges, roads and perimeter fences were swept to the last bricks in Fori, Gwange and Gamboru. Several vehicles and shops with goods worth millions of naira were damaged entirely.
At Laujeri, one of the worst-affected communities, Messrs Lawani, Modu, and other locals grappled with their losses. A community leader, Bulamai Aisami, said Laujeri was still in mourning.
Mr Lawani lost his grandmother, daughter, sister, and nieces to the flooding. He said they now rely on the generosity of immediate family members and the community. "We are urgently in need of government assistance," he said.
Some succour is expected to come to most of the Borno flood victims soon. The Borno State Government has raised billions of naira to support the victims and rebuild damaged infrastructure.
Mohammed Abdullahi, a trader in Laujeri, said he lost friends to the flooding. "I am witness to at least 40 dead bodies that were recovered after the disaster," he said.
Standing at the waterside and enveloped in grief and silence, Umar Mohammed, a 44-year-old fisherman, said he lost relatives.
"The government needs to give this dam urgent attention because right now the appropriate measures are not taken," said Mr Lawani, who said he foresaw the disaster long before it happened. He said he was speaking on behalf of the youths and traders in the Laujeri community.
Nigeria's perennial flooding disaster
Experts have argued that Nigeria's perennial flood disaster can be addressed by deploying water harvesting technology, channelling excess waters to recharge the shrinking Lake Chad and dredging major water pathways nationwide.
The federal government has approved N108 billion for the 36 states to tackle flooding.
The major flooding incidents experienced in Nigeria over the past three years have been disastrous. Hundreds of people have died, businesses crippled, and homes, farms, schools, hospitals, among others, have been destroyed. The floods have worsened the lingering socio-economic crisis in Nigeria, where citizens are witnessing their worst cost of living crisis in a generation.
Meanwhile. the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has issued a dire warning indicating that approximately 11 states are still at risk of severe flooding due to the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.
Already, the release of excess water from the dam has affected numerous areas in Adamawa, Bauchi, Sokoto, Niger, and Zamfara, among others. While Jigawa State, at 49 deaths, has recorded the highest number of flood fatalities, the flood has killed at least 45 people in Kano, 29 in Bauchi and 28 in Adamawa State so far, according to the authorities.
