More than 100 people have died in floods after Nigeria’s two major rivers burst their banks, authorities say.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says heavy rains caused the Niger River and Benue River to overflow.
It has resulted in a series of floods across the country over two weeks, with rural areas most vulnerable.
The government is urging residents along waterways to relocate to safe places.
Thousands of people have been displaced and vast swathes of farmlands have been destroyed by the floods in central and southern Nigeria, says the BBC’s Is’haq Khalid in the capital, Abuja.
Worst hit is Niger State, where more than 40 people have died, NEMA director Mustapha Yunusa Maihaja told the BBC.
Eleven other states have been affected – they are Kwara, Benue, Kogi, Adamawa, Taraba, Kebbi, Bayelsa, Edo, Anambra, Rivers and Delta.
In response, Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari approved three billion naira (about $8.2 million) to cater for medical and relief support for persons affected by flooding in parts of the country.
Meanwhile, NEMA Director-General, Mustapha Maihaja, has warned that flooding could get worse as water inflow into River Niger and Benue is so huge that both rivers can only accommodate less than two meters of water before they will overflow their banks into nearby communities.
He is expected to visit Kogi State, one of the states worst affected by the development. Lokoja is the capital of Kogi State and a confluence town where River Niger (West Africa’s longest) meets River Benue with both flowing downhill to empty into the Atlantic ocean.
