---
title: "Nigeria’s Worst Flood in a Decade Caused Billions in Damage"
description: "Nigerian floods last year that claimed hundreds of lives also caused up to $9 billion in damage, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Newsdeck"
author: "Bloomberg"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/bloomberg/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2023-12-01-nigerias-worst-flood-in-a-decade-caused-billions-in-damage/"
published: "2023-12-01T19:49:47"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 249
---

# Nigeria’s Worst Flood in a Decade Caused Billions in Damage

> Nigerian floods last year that claimed hundreds of lives also caused up to $9 billion in damage, according to a report from the National Bureau of Statistics.

By Bloomberg · Published 1 December 2023, 21:49 SAST

## Key points
- From Nigeria to Niger and Chad, this year's floods in West Africa killed over 800 people, with climate-changing pollution making them up to 80 times more likely and 20% worse than before industrialization.
- Floods in West Africa this year killed over 800 people, with climate change making them 80 times more likely.
- Nigeria, Niger and Chad were particularly affected by the floods.
- The World Weather Attribution found that climate-changing pollution has made the rains 20% worse than they would have been before industrialization.
- COP28 will discuss how countries can compensate developing nations for the worst impacts of global warming.

## Content

The assessment, conducted in collaboration with the World Bank, placed the cost of the destruction in a range of $3.79 billion to $9.12 billion.

Floods are an annual scourge in Africa’s most populous nation but the damage done in 2022 was the worst in a decade, hitting 33 of the country’s 36 states, 64% of households and causing an “unprecedented disruption and destruction,” according to the NBS.

The report contained several recommendations for the future, including early warning systems, flood-risk financing and insurance, as well as a focus on post-disaster recovery to safeguard food security.

It comes as leaders from around the world gather in Dubai for the COP28 summit on how to tackle climate change.

Talks will include a discussion about how countries that industrialized early might compensate their developing counterparts who are first to suffer the worst impacts of global warming, which has had a particularly devastating impact on Africa.

Read more: [Climate Change Made Rains That Flooded West Africa Far Likelier](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-16/climate-change-made-rains-that-flooded-west-africa-80-times-more-likely)

This year, floods in Nigeria, Niger and Chad killed more than 800 people, according to a report by the World Weather Attribution. It found that climate-changing pollution has made severe seasonal rains in West Africa 80 times more likely and 20% worse than they might have been before the world industrialized.

A warming planet may exacerbate existing “chronic food insecurity” in the region, the researchers said in a separate [study](https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/food-crisis-in-central-sahel-in-2022-driven-by-chronic-vulnerability-with-uncertain-role-of-climate-change/), warning it could contribute to increasing conflicts that harm farming and access to markets.