The states bordering the Benue River have been advised to step up their alertness by the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, or NIHSA.
The call comes in response to the administration of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon’s continued plan to release the dam’s water.
The states that are most likely to be impacted by the dam’s water flow are Adamawa, Taraba, Benue, Nasarawa, Kogi, Edo, Delta, Anambra, Bayelsa, Cross River, and Rivers, according to a statement released by the NIHSA on Tuesday and signed by its director general and chief executive officer, Umar Ibrahim Mohamed.
The organization also urged all levels of government to put in place suitable flood prevention measures in order to lessen the possibility of flooding at this time due to rising river levels.
According to the statement, depending on inflows from the upstream Garoua River, the reservoir’s main feeder and a major contributor to the Benue River, the water release will start at a rate of 100 cubic meters per second (8.64 million cubic meters per day) and progressively increase to 1,000 cubic meters per second over the course of the following seven days.
“The Cameroonian dam authorities assured NIHSA that the water releases will be regulated to avoid exceeding the capacity of the Benue River and triggering major flooding downstream in Nigeria.”
“The controlled water releases will cease once there is a noticeable decrease in inflow into the Lagdo reservoir,” The sentence said.
Since major flooding was not expected downstream in Nigeria, the NIHSA stressed that there was no immediate need for concern and that the current water levels along the Benue River remained below safe limits.
With the situation in order to avert any catastrophes caused by flooding, the agency also gave the public the assurance that it would keep a careful eye on the water levels along the Benue and other national inland rivers and would provide frequent updates.
