The Flood We Could Have Prevented: Echoes of a Missing Ecological Fund
By Yax Mokwa
What words can truly capture the weight of grief our communities are carrying?
In one heartbreaking video, a woman clutching her baby was seen being rescued. What many didn’t know was that she had two babies with her — but the force of the flood left her with an impossible choice. She had to let her older baby go, swept away by the current.
Kaka Dazana, a mother, lost all four of her children. She herself was barely rescued.
A family searching desperately for their loved ones found 13 out of 15 members — all of them dead.
Another woman and her three children remain missing, with no sign of their survival.
A large mosque, filled with worshippers — some even seeking safety on the rooftop — collapsed and was washed away.
In an almajiri school, over 40 young boys were swallowed by the flood. None have been found. Another school housing even more children suffered the same unthinkable fate.
Entire families have been wiped out. Children, elders, mothers, and fathers — gone.
And the heartbreaking truth is: we still don’t know how many lives have been lost. Many were likely carried far into the River Niger through the Rabba and Koshaba valley. Entire Mokwa town is mourning. The silence left behind is louder than any storm.
And I do not think this is just the result of intensive rainfall. The Federal Government must investigate the true cause of these devastating floods — not settle for shallow explanations.
What makes this even more painful is that it could have been prevented or the impact would have been far lesser than this monumental national tragedy. Mokwa people have never kept quite on this. They’ve done documentaries, written and called attentions of the authority to it.
In 2017, former Governor Senator Abubakar Sani Bello said:
“I’m aware that the EFCC is investigating the ecological funds. At the inception of this administration we realized that the ecological funds disappeared I did not have any evidence that it was utilized to address any ecological issues and we are faced with major ecological problems especially in Mokwa, Agaie, Bida, part of Minna, Rafin Gora and Mariga.”
It was alleged that ₦6 billion meant to protect our people simply vanished.
In December 2024, Governor Umar Bago announced that Niger State had secured $10 million from the World Bank to arrest gully erosion in Mokwa. This is six months already and we don’t know what is causing the delay in mobilizing contractors to site.
Yesterday, that neglect has claimed over 60 lives, and counting.
This is not just a natural disaster.
This is the consequence of greed and neglect.
We must not allow these deaths to go unaccounted for — or their cause to be buried in bureaucracy and silence.
To the families grieving, we mourn with you.
To the ones still missing, we are praying for miracles.