Could AI save Nigerians from devastating floods?

Floods are worsening by the year in Nigeria and standard food aid programmes after each disaster are not enough.

In the small village of Ogba-Ojibo in central Nigeria, sitting at the confluence of two of the nation’s largest rivers – the Niger and Benue – 27-year-old Ako Prince Omali is counting the steps carved out of the dirt, which lead down the loam-coloured banks of the river Niger. This river bank, dotted with tufts of spiky grass, is where villagers come to fish or wash produce and laundry.

Just last week, three of the steps were submerged during one night of rain, which raised the water level by about five metres. Normally, you can count seven steps down into the river. Now, only four remain above the surface of the water, the sticks bracing the muddy steps having washed away in the deluge.

Omali, a subsistence farmer whose one hectare of cropland has been wholly submerged, has been monitoring the level of water in the river for the past few weeks. The third-longest on the continent, the Niger is a major river in West Africa, originating in the Guinea highlands and discharging into the Atlantic Ocean via the expansive Niger Delta.

Flooding, one of the most common natural disasters in the world, is a seasonal occurrence for the 4.5 million people living in Kogi State, named for a Hausa word meaning river. Most Ogba-Ojibo villagers are subsistence fishermen and farmers whose livelihoods are especially susceptible to environmental changes.

Nigeria has the second-highest number of people in the world vulnerable to flooding after India – 15 million in total. In 2022, 470,000 people in Kogi alone were affected by flooding.