More than 200 prisoners break out of a Nigerian prison following flooding

Following the worst flooding the region has seen in more than 20 years, more than 200 prisoners broke out of a jail in northeastern Nigeria, officials have reported. As a result of a dam collapse on September 9, areas of Borno state's capital, Maiduguri, were submerged under water, resulting in 37 fatalities, as reported by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Up to 200,000 more people have lost their homes. When President Bola Tinubu visited the city on Monday, locals reported that several places remained submerged in water.

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) announced in a statement on Sunday that following their prison's flooding, officials found that 281 prisoners had fled while being moved to "a safe and secure facility." 274 inmates are still at large and seven have been recaptured. "The walls of the correctional facilities, including the medium-security custodial centre Maiduguri as well as the staff quarters in the city, were brought down by the flood," stated Abubakar. He said that the NCS and other security agencies had started looking for the missing inmates.

Local sources state that last week's severe floods carried reptiles, lions, and other animals from the city's Sanda Kyarimi Park zoo into civilian neighbourhoods. Temporary shelters have been set up in six sites throughout the city to house those who have been displaced by the intense rains. There used to be internally displaced person (IDP) camps in Maiduguri, the starting point of a 15-year insurgency by the Islamist group Boko Haram. However, in the last three years, state authorities have started to close the camps, eager to get people back to the rural areas. The United Arab Emirates and the federal government have provided relief supplies.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, up to 31.8 million Nigerians are currently at risk of experiencing acute food insecurity (FAO). In the upcoming weeks, according to aid workers, conditions may worsen, particularly in northern Nigeria, which is at the epicentre of the extreme weather catastrophe. In the densely populated camps, there are also worries about a possible cholera breakout. The FAO warned in a statement that "the area is now on high alert for outbreaks of diseases including cholera, malaria, and typhoid as well as animal and zoonotic diseases."

The number of floods in Nigeria has increased above the yearly norm as the effects of climate change become more apparent globally. Half of the 1.3 million hectares of inundated land in the country as of September 10th was farmland. The flooding occurs while residents of Cameroon's Far North area are getting over a flood that caused 3,700 houses to collapse. Nigeria has annual flooding due to the Lagdo dam on the Benue River, which flows through both Cameroon and Nigeria. FAO relief personnel report that states like as Adamawa are in immediate danger because of an anticipated dam release. Aid workers assert that more work needs to be done since infrastructure is overburdened, despite the government's commitment to finding long-term solutions.