DAYS AFTER devastating floods swept through Mokwa, a town in Niger State, Nigeria, displacing dozens of families, wrecking homes, leaving thousands missing and killing hundreds, many victims remain without shelter despite the establishment of temporary displaced camps in two local schools. Our West and East Africa Correspondent, ADEDOKUN THEOPHILUS, reports on how state negligence has left the victims stranded, and forced some to return to their waterlogged homes in desperation.
IT WAS night in Mokwa, Niger State. Aisha Yusuf, a woman in her mid-sixties, was seen billowing fire as she occasionally added straws of planks and firewood to fuel the campfire.
But Aisha was not in a camp; she was seated on the rubble and mud of her washed-away house. She hummed while she sat, recalling the good days spent in the house that had been reduced to soil and sand. The fire was set to light up her surroundings, repel predators and create a warm temperature in the cold of the night.
Just some days before, she had everything, a family, home and in just one night, after a heavy rain and the accompanying flood, she lost everything and was left with nothing but a pair of wrappers and the remains; remnants and ruins of a collapsed. Something else died with Aisha that night; her will.
Since the incident, she has yet to pick up her life again as she continues to wallow and mourn the loss of every labour and sweat carted away by the raging flood and in her shadow of grief, she drifts between sadness and sorrow. Aisha is one of the 3,018 people reported to be displaced by the recent flood in Mokwa Niger State.
A Raging Flood
On the night of May 28th, 2025, Aisha and the rest of the nearly 500,000 residents of Mokwa- a market town in Niger state, north central Nigeria- slept in peace, by the next morning when the rains which began as a drizzle ended, over 200 people were dead and nearly 4,000 were without homes.
It was the worst environmental disaster of 2025, as rescue efforts kicked in and causalities mounted. The state governor, Mohammed Bago declared emergency in the town and gave approvals for new houses to be built.
But how could an overnight rain-one not uncommon in the town- turn so deadly and devastating. Bago said: “Unlike other years, after the first rain, all our dams are so full we don’t even know where the waters are coming from, whether there is an overflow from Niger Republic or other parts of Africa. So, this first set of water we have received is hitting us badly.”
But Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev had a better idea where the water was coming from. At a press conference he said: “I like to emphasise that the flood was not caused by water releases from either the Kainji or Jebba dams and that both dams are intact and safe.
“The flood in Mokwa town was primarily caused by heavy rainfall due to extreme weather conditions occasioned by climate change, an emerging global phenomenon which overwhelmed local drainage systems.
“Additionally, unregulated buildings and construction activities blocked an ephemeral tributary of River Dingi, a regressive river, a tributary of River Niger, which remains dry almost all year round with flows solely dependent on surface runoff by rainfall.”
A flood of relief materials and money began to pour in. The federal government gave N2 billion, Niger state gave N1billion, Taraba state N350million, Borno state N500, 000 etc and camps were set up. But these did little to abase the pains of the victims.
An Unending Pain
Although two displacement camps were set up to house affected victims, Aisha continued to sleep on the planks, logs and debris left behind on the site where her house once stood. She said living in the camp makes no difference because there are no basic provisions like mattresses and safety nets.
“We sleep here, but when it rains, we go and hide until it subsides. But two days ago, and yesterday, we went to the camp, but we were not provided with any bed or mosquito net,” she said in local Yoruba dialect.
“We were given only rice and two pairs of used clothes,” she said, lamenting palliative (rice) given to them cannot be cooked because the flood washed away our cooking utensils.
Her two nights in Tifin Maza displacement camps were marked by poignancy because she stayed awake all nights to chase blood-sucking mosquitoes from perching on her grandchildren.
“We buy the repellents ourselves, and if we were given, I will not lie. We are not given bed and I sleep on the floor.” she revealed.
To avoid sleeping on the bare floor, Aisha spread a pair of wrappers for her children to lie on, and the few times she tried to hit the sack, she woke up with severe cold, body pain and aches.
Life is no longer at ease for her as surviving becomes a tough nut. Now, she comforts herself in loneliness and the coldness of the night.
Displaced persons by natural disaster, such as those affected by flooding in Mokwa, are supposed to be housed in displaced camps with necessities but contrary is the case in Niger, as the national and state emergency management agency fails to provide modest shelter for flood victims.
After the flood devastated Mokwa town, Aisha is not facing this bothersome dilemma alone; many surviving victims are sharing the same fate. They are all drinking from the same rivers of bitter experience. However, there is little that they can do to alleviate their conditions.
“For two days, I have not slept because there is no place to sleep,” said Zainab Haruna, another woman sitting outside her partly crumbled building.
She decided to stay behind because the displaced camp, where they are asked to go, is far. She too, like Aisha is drowned in the reality of her misery.
Once a thriving community, now a rubble
“I cannot walk because my legs are aching and the camp is far,” she noted, pointing out that her road to the camp is unsafe and dangerous. Zainab has not fed well since the disaster, and her condition is critical. Although they were given small bags of rice as palliative, many found it difficult to cook due to a lack of cooking materials and ingredients.
“We need shelter, food and ingredients because our situation is worse,” She said with a heavy voice, adding that the flood didn’t just take their home; it swallowed their life savings too.
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, a global organisation responsible for protecting and assisting refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, states that shelters should be suitable for the displaced populations.
It emphasized the need for such provisions to be culturally acceptable and reflect their living habits, while providing privacy, dignity, and physical safety. This means it emphasizes secure and safe settlements that improve displaced persons’ social, economic and environmental quality of life as a community.
Displaced people should be provided thermal comfort with clothes, blankets and bedding, stressed the Sphere handbook, a well-known guide in the humanitarian sector. It stressed the dignity and ensured the well-being of displaced populations through adherence to appropriate infrastructure standards.
Studies has shown that physical structures’ availability and conditions can have an impact on the environmental health of displaced persons. The International Committee of the Red Cross noted the complex relationship between physical infrastructure and living conditions.
The washed away railway track in Mokwa
Another study by the National Library of Medicine revealed that sleeping on the floor is linked to cardiovascular disease in adults.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) constitutes a major public health burden and is the greatest cause of mortality globally. 17.9 million lives are lost to CVD annually, according to the World Health Organisation.
A former Secretary of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), Federal Capital Territory chapter, Dr Michael Olarewaju, disclosed that stress, cold exposure, infections and inflammation from poor sleeping conditions, and healthcare disruptions in displaced people could exacerbate pre-existing cardiovascular disorders like hypertension and heart disease.
He stressed that chronic musculoskeletal disorders like arthritis, chronic back pain can result from prolonged sleeping on hard surfaces. These disorders are linked to a reduction in the quality of life.
“Women in IDP camps are prone to increased sexual violence and its attendant sexual and reproductive health issues; like STIs, unintended pregnancies and complications of unsafe abortion,” he told African Angle.
In spite of the vulnerable situation that floods pushed displaced persons in Mokwa to, a decent shelter and bedding intervention like the distribution of beds and mats to insulate against cold and damp floors can mitigate the high risk of critical health emergencies.
“This will reduce hypothermia and cold-related cardiovascular stress. Construction of raised shelters will lower the rates of infection, thus reducing inflammation-linked cardiovascular risks,” the medical expert added.
Displaced, Dislocated…Now Denied
Many of the victims find themselves caught up in the web of a traumatised struggle as they are displaced and dislocated.
Husseina Mohammed is also one of the casualties of the Nigeria’s latest climate disaster. Her family is also wrenched away. She tried to move on and survive, but nothing worked out.
For days, she slept amid the ruins of her home. But on the first night she sought refuge at the Tifin Maza displacement camp, she was hit by a harsher reality. There were no basic provisions in place.
“We have been waiting since 7:00 pm, and this is 10:30 pm, we have neither drunk water nor eaten,” She lamented to African Angle.
But she is not the only one who is faced with the challenge; more than one hundred and fifty women experienced similar plights. They were all neglected and at the mercy of the night by both the Niger State Emergency Management Agency and the Mokwa Flood Disaster Committee. Children and lactating mothers were not excluded.
Having lost everything to the floodwater, these women have no choice but to spread a few pieces of wrappers, and sleep on the open field under the canopy of the sky, safety nets or secured facilities.
This was a camp where a plethora of humanitarian aid workers and the flood committee were actively working during the day, but at bedtime, not a single relief worker was in sight.
Civil Society Organisations say that the government needs to be proactive and responsive in addressing issues related to humanitarian emergencies like the Mokwa flood.
“The government is not being proactive in handling the situation in Mokwa,” the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, told African Angle.
Explaining that the two schools used as IDP camps are not enough, he noted that both the national and state emergency agencies should be more responsive to this situation while clamouring for transparency and accountability among every agency and party on the ground regarding Mokwa flood disaster.
Federal Government Responds
Nigeria’s government said it has donated N2 billion (about $1.2m) and 20 trucks of grains to victims of the Mokwa flood disaster. The money is aimed at helping rebuild and rehabilitate the affected community.
“Most importantly, we have to find windows for rebuilding lives and hopes of the people. The Federal Government will expend ₦2 billion in partnership with the Niger State Government to see that homes destroyed by this flood are reconstructed. Human lives can never be compensated,” said Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s Vice President, during a visit to the town.
Donning a black Kaftan cloth and cap, the Vice President vowed that the federal government would rebuild the bridges and reconstruct the roads that were destroyed, adding that the infrastructure is a lifeline which connects the south with the northern part of Nigeria.
“Mokwa has always stood as a vital crossroads in Nigeria’s geography and commerce. It is an agricultural hub and a cultural stronghold that connects the North and the South. This makes your pain a shared national burden. While this disaster is devastating, it will not define you. We will rebuild. We will restore the vibrancy for which Mokwa is known.” The Vice President said.
But to ActionAid Nigeria: “this amount is a pittance when compared to the damages which was done to the communities as it is grossly insufficient to tackle both infrastructural challenges and rebuild the lives of affected families”. Mamedu said, reiterating the necessity for the government to commit substantial funding into rehabilitating, rebuilding, reconstructing and reintegrating every affected party.
“Although there is a sum of two billion naira that has been commission by the federal government but there is a need to know that the funding is grossly inadequate and the state and federal government needs to commit more resources to the displaced person because we talk about the bridge that has been washed off, the roads that have been washed off and the houses that have been washed off.
It will weigh more than 10 billion if you look at the level of construction that is happening in Abuja compared to those places so the funding is not enough. Even with this fund that has come in, how do we make sure that it is well utilised and it is accounted for so that people don’t get greedy and start taking from that money?,” Mamedu said.
This does not end there, Mamedu believes that proper town planning, drainage systems and channels should be put in place, and issues relating to the provision of shelter for displaced and relocation of casualties should be treated. He said: “how do we do proper planning and proper drainage channeling. I hear people saying that people should leave the lower floodplain and go to higher land. Now, the government needs to make provision, some might not have a relative so where would they go and how do they get to the higher land, so clearly the government has to be more responsive.”
While the state government has made some palliatives available, ActionAid Nigeria has stepped in to provide support, food items and relief materials for the women, elderly and children. Different organisations have also supported the humanitarian course in cash, items or kind.
“NGOs can never do enough; the government needs to take up its responsibility and respond to the issues. They make sure that drainage is dredged and sanitation items are dealt with and the government should be able to pre-empt an incident or anomaly just like they normally do and provide succour and support for the people,” Mamedu added.
Unbalanced Conversion: Fifty Beds; Fifty-One Safety Nets for 3,018 Displaced Persons
Two displacement Camps were set up by the Niger state emergency management agency. The two camps were set up in different schools to house the Mokwa flash flood displaced people. The camps are located in Tifin Maza Primary School and Kpege Primary School.
“3,534 people were displaced, now living in makeshift shelter,” said Hussaini Ibrahim, the Acting Director General of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency in a visit to the community.
He noted that 9,560 people remain in urgent need of humanitarian assistance; including food, clean water, shelter, and medical care.
“The scale of destruction is heart-breaking,” Hussaini said. “Entire families have been uprooted, livelihoods destroyed, and communities broken.”
Hussaini was right. Current estimates indicate that 206 deaths were recorded, and 82 people sustained injuries. 458 homes were completely awashed and destroyed, while 180 hectares of farmland were submerged.
AfricanAngle visits to the two displaced camps showed that the heavy presence of displaced people at Kpege camp both in the morning and at night.
Sadly, the situation was different in Tifin Maza Primary School despite the number of displaced persons in the camp. Humanitarian activities take place during the day, but the people seem to have been abandoned to their fate at night.
While some provisions were made for the flood-displaced persons in both camps, and many have left because the camps’ situation betrayed their expectations.
Members of the flood committee in Kpege bemoaned that the population of the people sleeping in the displaced camp reduces daily due to a lack of basic amenities.
“The population is now limited because they have been sleeping on the bare floor for days, and many of them complain of mosquitoes,” Ibrahim Abdullahi, one of the workers at the camp emphasised, adding that the set of mattresses and safety nets were the first they have gotten. “We only have 50 mattresses and 51 mosquito nets, and I don’t say what I don’t know.”
Although the scale of crisis and disaster demands far more than what was provided, African Angle independently verified the provision of 50 mattresses and 51 safety nets.
Ibrahim further explained that the materials were brought after the intervention of UNDP medical personnel.
“Even when you asked me where they slept, I said they slept on the bare floor. A doctor of UNDP was here with us this morning as he checked around. He saw everything, and he promised to make provision for 50 mattresses.”
The lead United Nations agency for international development is the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). It aims to end poverty and lessen inequality while creating policies to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. It has expanded to 170 countries across the globe.
Expressing deep frustration over government negligence and inadequate support, Saliu Gimba, a teacher at Kpege Nursery and Primary School and a concerned community member, emphasised that the assistance provided is alarmingly minimal compared to the immense humanitarian needs on the ground of the displaced persons.
Saliu expressed sorrow about the dire condition of the displaced persons.
“Since that day, they have not brought anything. It is today that they are just bringing this to us. And the day before yesterday, when some of them slept, in the morning, they started complaining that the mosquitoes did not allow them to sleep. As we complained to them and they bring this one,” he said, pointing at a piece of 50 beds and 51 mosquito nets.
He added that there had been a power outage since the incident, which has denied displaced people access to electricity and water. Stakeholders of the camp committee on flood disaster said that the number of people who slept at the camp on the 2nd and 3rd of June was much but over time, the figure has reduced.
African Angle request for the data of the people presently homed in the displaced camp, and the humanitarian assistance received by the flood committee was not provided. The committee was formed by the state government and headed by the executive secretary of the Mokwa Local Government, Alhaji Dauda Rahman.
“I could remember the fact that people slept in Kpege Primary School because that was the first camp that was initially established. We recorded about 211 and the second day we noticed about almost about 400 and the third day we did not have the record because we were busy with the vice president’s visit,” said the publicity secretary of the camp committee on flood disaster, Zubaira Abdullah.
Ibrahim Hussaini, said the state is collaborating with humanitarian organisation like NEMA and RedCross. “We have made enough provisions for almost all the displaced affected victims, and we have also been working together with certain organisations, NGO, NEMA, and other organisations. We have made a camp.”
According to him, the women and children sleeping in the washed-away houses are scavengers. “Those you see are just scavengers trying to dig out properties on the ground and most displaced are still dealing with the psycho-social part of the incident, he said.
Semiye Michael, the executive director of DEAN Initiative believes the government is aware of the plight of the displaced and it does not lack initiative, but lacks accountability and sincerity.
He noted that the government has abundant resources to cater for the needs of displaced people in Mokwa if it planned to.
“They have land resources, and they have access to emergency funds. They can draw it from anywhere. They have access to global and local partnerships that can support them. The well-being of these people who have fallen victim should be prioritised, and the minimum standard of support should be given to the people. They should see where to sleep.”
This is the first story in African Angle’s Flood Series, focusing on Mokwa in Niger State.
