Flooding has killed at least 165 people, left 82 missing and displaced nearly 44,000 others in Nigeria in 2025, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). But many of the most affected states made little or no investment in flood control this year, despite suffering a similar catastrophe in 2024.
NEMA listed Abia, FCT, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, Borno, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, Rivers and Sokoto as the 19 worst-hit states in 2025.
Of these, five states had spent nothing on flood prevention by mid-year. Two more states reduced their spending compared to what they allocated in 2024, despite being repeat victims.
In 2024, states like Borno, Sokoto, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara experienced severe casualties. Borno reported 38 deaths and over 390,000 displaced residents. Sokoto had 102,000 affected persons, 980 injuries and 15 deaths, while Taraba lost 43,000 hectares of farmland and 15 lives.
READ ALSO: What Over 200 Deaths Reveal About Nigeria’s Flood Readiness
Despite this, the budget performance in 2025 shows limited action from these states:
| State | 2024 Casualties | 2024 Spending (N) | 2025 Spending (N) | Spending Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Borno | 419,482 affected, 38 deaths, 390,736 displaced | 20,000,000 | 216,984,000 | Increased |
| Sokoto | 102,155 affected, 15 deaths, 55,805 displaced | 71,371,000 | 49,631,840 | Decreased |
| Taraba | 59,858 affected, 15 deaths, 32,773 displaced | – | – | No spending |
| Kano | 48,854 affected, 45 deaths, 1,831 displaced | – | 432,107,224 | First-time spending |
| Kaduna | 7,419 affected, 2 deaths, 1,536 homes destroyed | 1,428,345,989 | – | Dropped to zero |
| Zamfara | 78,840 affected, 13 deaths, 32,910 displaced | – | – | No spending |
| Niger | 46,730 affected, 10 deaths, 36,113 displaced | 2,200,000,000 | 3,983,200,000 | Increased |
| Imo | 28,663 affected, 11,656 displaced | 1,000,000,000 | – | Dropped to zero |
| Kogi | 3,826 affected, 2,701 displaced | 29,809,606 | 2,663,000 | Sharply decreased |
| Rivers | At least 14 deaths in Ahoada West | – | – | No records |
| Jigawa | 71,297 affected, 54 deaths, 205 injuries | – | – | No spending |
States that were battered by last year’s floods but failed to respond adequately in 2025 include Taraba and Zamfara, both of which reported no flood prevention spending this year.
Kaduna, which had spent over N1.4 billion on flood control by August 2024, has not spent a dime in 2025. Sokoto, with a high casualty toll last year, even reduced its spending from N71.3 million to N49.6 million.
Kano, where 45 lives were lost in 2024, allocated N432 million in 2025. This is its first reported flood control spending in two years.
While many of the most vulnerable states underperformed, a handful made significant improvements.
Bayelsa, which had 25 deaths and more than 5,000 displaced people in 2024, increased its flood spending by midyear from N1.3 billion to over N8.8 billion this year.
Edo raised its erosion control funding from N299 million to N2 billion, and Abia jumped from N525 million to N1.3 billion.
| State | 2024 Spending (N) | 2025 Spending (N) | Spending Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bayelsa | 1,385,098,283 | 8,827,082,029 | Sharply increased |
| Edo | 299,313,883 | 2,000,000,000 | Sharply increased |
| Abia | 525,470,969 | 1,336,126,700 | Increased |
| Niger | 2,200,000,000 | 3,983,200,000 | Increased |
| Lagos | 1,300,844,724 | 6,391,049,566 | Sharply increased |
| Enugu | 615,731,046 | 1,041,805,000 | Increased |
| Ekiti | 88,351,351 | 172,929,875 | Increased |
Although national spending on flood control more than tripled, rising to N26.5 billion by June, more than half of that money came from just four states: Bayelsa, Edo, Abia and Niger. Many others spent less than N100 million, or nothing at all.
READ ALSO: Borno Flood Hit NIS Database in September. It Affected Passport Applicants’ Data 7 Months Later
The 17 states observed in this report have published their budget performance reports for the second quarter of the 2025 fiscal year as they are statutorily mandated.
new Chart(ctx, {
type: ‘bar’,
data: {
labels: [
‘Abia’, ‘Adamawa’, ‘Bauchi’, ‘Benue’, ‘Borno’, ‘Cross River’, ‘Edo’, ‘Enugu’,
‘Kano’, ‘Kogi’, ‘Kwara’, ‘Lagos’, ‘Nasarawa’, ‘Niger’, ‘Ondo’, ‘Osun’,
‘Sokoto’, ‘Bayelsa’, ‘Ekiti’, ‘Yobe’
],
datasets: [{
label: ‘2025 Allocation (₦)’,
data: [
1336126700, 68699998.61, 38576360.61, 16929750, 216984000, 100756250, 2000000000,
1041805000, 432107224, 2663000, 12954500, 6391049565.62, 19787000, 3983200000,
184271689.46, 1697533601.78, 49631840, 8827082028.87, 172929875, 477691438
],
backgroundColor: ‘#4CAF50’,
borderColor: ‘#2E7D32’,
borderWidth: 2
}]
},
options: {
responsive: true,
maintainAspectRatio: false,
plugins: {
title: {
display: true,
text: ‘2025 State Allocations in Nigeria (₦)’,
font: {
size: 22,
weight: ‘bold’
},
padding: {
top: 20,
bottom: 30
}
},
legend: {
display: false
},
tooltip: {
callbacks: {
label: function(context) {
return ‘₦’ + context.raw.toLocaleString();
}
},
titleFont: { size: 16 },
bodyFont: { size: 14 }
}
},
scales: {
x: {
title: {
display: true,
text: ‘States’,
font: { size: 16, weight: ‘bold’ }
},
ticks: {
font: { size: 13 },
maxRotation: 90,
minRotation: 45
}
},
y: {
title: {
display: true,
text: ‘Amount (₦)’,
font: { size: 16, weight: ‘bold’ }
},
ticks: {
font: { size: 13 },
beginAtZero: true
}
}
}
}
});
SOME OF THE MAJOR FLOODING INCIDENTS OF 2025
Nigeria has had its fair share of deadly flooding incidents in 2025. In late May, floodwaters from torrential rains and the collapse of a nearby dam submerged the market town of Mokwa in Niger State.
The flood killed over 500 people, injured more than 200, left over 600 missing and destroyed over 4,000 homes.
The next day, sudden flash floods in Okrika, Rivers State, swept through residential districts, killed 25 people, and cut off access to several communities as roads and bridges gave way.
Earlier in the rainy season, rising waters from the Niger River inundated hundreds of hectares of rice farms around Shonga in Edu LGA, Kwara State, destroying livelihoods.
The post DATA: 4 States Boost Flood Control Budget but More Affected Govts Do Less or Nothing appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.