…1.3m Nigerians affected
The series of floods that swept through some parts of the country between July and October last year wreaked havoc on the education sector, leaving many students missing an average of 53 school days, a report recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, has said.
The report, titled “Nigeria Flood Impact Recovery Mitigation Assessment Report 2022-2023,” also said 1,302,789 Nigerians were affected.
The report listed severely affected states, including Bayelsa, Delta, Anambra, Kogi, Nasarawa, and Jigawa, among others.
On the number of days the affected households experienced the floods, the report said 41.1% experienced the floods for between one and 11 days and 39.9% for 32 days, with affected households in Bayelsa, Anambra, and Delta states experiencing the floods for more than 32 days.
It added that Jigawa and Nasarawa states experienced the floods for between one and 11 days.
According to the report, 35.9% of the households affected nationwide had the schooling of their children and wards affected for several days. However, in Bayelsa, almost 87.6% of those affected had their children’s schooling affected. Delta 42.4%, Kogi 40.8%, and Nasarawa 10%.
Across all the states, 45.8% of those affected in the rural areas had schooling stopped for some days, while in the urban areas the percentage was 14.8.
The highest number of school days missed was recorded in Anambra, which was 73 days, while Nasarawa had six days of schooling missed.
Due to the severity of the floods, only about 94% of the schools were afterwards reopened, with 97% of them being in urban areas and 92.7% being reopened in rural areas.
On the headship of the affected households, the NBS in the report said male-headed households were able to cope faster than female-headed ones.
Though the report did not give the number of affected schools, classroom buildings, teaching aids and facilities, and books, among others, were either pulled down or swept away.
At the time, some of the schools had reopened, but some of the facilities were yet to be replaced.
Perennial flooding has become the order of the day in some parts of the country because of the overflowing of banks by Rivers Niger and Benue and their waters being drained into the ocean in some states in the Niger Delta region.
Apart from the impact on education, the floods affected health institutions, agricultural farmlands, etc. and left about 1,000 people dead nationwide.
