More than a million people are homeless after some of the worst flooding the country has ever seen.
By the time Ifeanyin Ashley returned home from work, floodwaters had swept through his bungalow which housed his wife, children, and parents in Ogbaru, in Nigeria's south-eastern Anambra state, leaving his armchairs soaked and his bed covered in mud.
"Even when the flood subsides, we don't have anywhere to go," she says. "No food, no money to buy cement, zinc, no money to rent a new house."Some Nigerian states, especially coastal ones where water flows into the River Niger - Africa's third-longest river and by far the most important in West Africa - and the Benue River, are no strangers to such problems.
According to Nigeria's meteorological organisation, this year is set to be Nigeria's wettest in 40 years. Experts say climate change is partly to blame for this year's intense rainfall, with 31 out of the country's 36 states affected, with more rain expected before the dry season starts in late November.Ordinarily trees should help soak up water and make the environment more habitable, but Nigeria's forest cover has shrunk over the years.
Had it, it would be two-and-a-half times the capacity of the Lagdo dam, generate 300MW of electricity and irrigate about 150,000 hectares of farmland across three states. He spent over one million naira on land lease, herbicide, tractor rent, labour, seedlings, and weeding. The bumper harvest from the previous year had buoyed him to do even more this year.Some of us borrowed money to cultivate these [farmlands]. The money is down the drain. We don’t know what to do""It is unimaginable. This is my farm alone. I am not talking about other farms that are also submerged here.