Officials in Jigawa in northern Nigeria state that the Hadejia-Jama'are River Basin Development Authority opened the Tiga and Challawa dams to prevent overflowing following heavy rainfall in 2010, affecting close to two million people who are now displaced and close to a quarter of a million acres of farmland have also been destroyed. Already the area had been badly affected by flooding after dams burst, with some villages covered in water up to the roofs of houses there. Up to forty deaths have been reported.

Whilst flooding of the low lying plains are common at this time of year, the devastation caused by the opening of the dams of this occasion has been significant and, ironically, fresh clean water supplies are in serious short supply. Some of the blame is being placed on a  failure to remove the silt that has been building up at the reservoir created by the Challawa dam and in the Challawa river itself.

If this silt had been removed, it has been argued, the flooding would not have been required. The dam itself has been subject to controversy, causing flooding both up and down stream at regular intervals whilst simultaneously drying out wetlands.  A recent evaluation of the dam project concluded that it had had no beneficial economic effects at all once the impact on the wetland downstream of the river had been taken into account.

However the agency that manages the dams stated that the flooding was nothing to do with the dams. "This year we have had heavy rainfall almost everywhere in the country. This is actually what caused the flooding." The spokesman went onto state that the heavy rainfall had simply filled the dams and the excess water had flowed out into the surrounding area. Whatever the truth, the flooding only added to the woes of northern Nigeria which had already seen entire villages swept away during the rainy season. For all the latest news from Nigeria click here for our news service.