BY GODWIN OBI
The Minister of State for Environment, Dr Iziaq Salako, believes the opening of Cameroon’s Lagdo Dam won’t cause as much flooding as it did last year.
Nigeria’s neighbour days ago opened the dam with governments and agencies placing communities on red alert.
But speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Dr Salako, said that there has been an approach to building another dam in Adamawa State so it can hold off the water from the Cameroon dam.
“The Ministry is aware, and I am sure most Nigerians are aware, that Cameroon wants to open that dam. But thankfully, it is not a sudden opening. So, the management of the opening of that dam is going to cause a less severe burden than we envisage,” he said
“Compared to 2022, we do not envisage seeing such kind of thing that we saw in 2022. However, there have been a lot of warnings, alerts, and requests for people who are living on the banks of River Benue to relocate to higher ground.
“We expect that some flooding will occur as a result of the opening of that dam, and it is inevitable, because if the dam itself overflows on its own. The disaster that it will cause will be worse.
“It is better to have a managed release of the water in the dam to ensure that the damage is not much,” the minister added.
His comment comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alerted the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) over impending flooding along the River Benue basin.
This was communicated through a letter signed by Umar Salisu, the Ministry’s Director of African Affairs, dated August 21.
The letter said the Cameroonian government plans to “open the flood gates of the Lagdo Dam on the Benue River in days ahead”.
It noted that this is due to the heavy rainfall “around the dam catchment area in Northern Cameroon”.
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