The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation Joseph Terlumum who raised the concern while addressing a press conference said a total of 63 deaths and 2,102 suspected cases have already been recorded as of Wednesday, July 3, 2024, since the outbreak of the epidemic.
Recent incessant rains have resulted in floods in some states and the Federal Capital Territory ,FCT, a situation that prompted the minister to call on state governments across the country to intensify efforts in clearing drainages.
According to the minister, there has been no release of water yet from any of the dams within and outside Nigeria. For Kainji and Jebba Dams on River Niger, he said water is still impounded into their reservoirs.
He said river flooding is expected beginning this month, and states likely to be impacted are; Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Adamawa, Benue, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Jigawa, Kogi, Kebbi, Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, Ondo, Ogun, Rivers, Taraba and the FCT.
His call came days after the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control ,NCDC, Jide Idris confirmed that the death toll from the rampaging cholera outbreak had risen to 63, and 2,102 suspected cases.
He said cases have now been recorded across 122 local government areas in 33 states of the country’s 36 and the FCT adding that about 90 per cent of the cases were recorded in 10 states with seven of them in the southern region.