Suleiman Adamu, the Minister of Water Resources, said, "Cameroon Lagdo Dam is not why we have floods in this country. Water from the sky that God has blessed us with makes up 80% of the floods in Nigeria.
He said God is responsible for torrents that have submerged various parts of the country, plunging communities into unparalleled devastation for the third week.
He said he laughs about all the stories he has seen on social media because they are misleading. For example, the Lagdo dam contributes to flooding in the country by only 1%.
Cameroon Dam Is Not Responsible For Nigeria's Flood - Minister Adamu
They do, however, occasionally release water without warning, and when they do, it affects communities downstream. But this is not the reason we have floods in the country.
Mr Adamu said that the Cameroonian authorities have not been completely honest with the Nigerian side on the dam's opening and release of water.
He maintains that Cameroon is not responsible for the flood and that there is no feasible end to the crisis.
To be sincere, I can assure you that Cameroon does not cause this year's flood. However, will river Niger and Benue will continue to be flooded. Since we signed the MOU with the Cameroonian authorities, the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) calls them every year to ask, 'what their level in Lagdo is.
Even when they were called this year, they said they released no water and would notify us. Instead, they told us after they had let the water out for 24 hours. Two years ago, they committed the same offence.
Nigeria is required to send a letter of protest to the Cameroonian government, which they neglected to tell us about. After the rains had gone down, there were suddenly floods in the Adamawa area, and we were asking them.
They denied not opening the reservoir for two weeks. It was limited to Adamawa state and Taraba. Because as I said earlier, the contribution to the flood by the Lagdo dam is not so high.
According to figures released by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the flood has affected more than two million people, with over 500 deaths. In addition, several communities have also disconnected from food supply and trade due to the flood.
