Better water retention infrastructure would enable communities to withstand the region’s many security and developmental challenges.

The Lake Chad Basin faces multiple challenges, including Boko Haram terrorism, community conflicts and poverty. On top of this, it is being hit by unprecedented flooding.

Stronger resilience – which refers to the ability of affected communities to recover, adapt, anticipate and resist – is vital in dealing with all these issues. Water retention infrastructure offers a sustainable solution that could help build resilience to flooding, terrorism and conflict, and sustain livelihoods.

Severe flooding affected the region in 2016, 2020, 2022 and 2024. In 2024 alone, over 236 025 people were impacted, with more than 250 deaths and the loss of 1 678 head of livestock in five of the eight Boko Haram-affected provinces across Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria.

In Cameroon’s Far North, 13 471 hectares of crops were wiped out. In Chad, over 35 267 households were affected by flooding in Lac Province. A total of 17 811 homes were destroyed, 4 840 head of livestock were lost and 22 213 hectares of fields were ruined.

In Nigeria, torrential rains caused a dam south of Maiduguri to burst, damaging 40% of the city and causing the displacement of 400 000 people and 30 deaths. In 2022, floods in Niger’s Diffa region affected 155 470 people and destroyed 2 119 homes. Forecasts predict more severe flooding in the years to come.

The Lake Chad Basin region

The catastrophic consequences of flooding undermine community resilience in at least three ways: by destroying development gains, creating new vulnerabilities, and weakening counter-terrorism efforts.

In terms of development gains, thousands of homes have been damaged or destroyed, along with road networks and bridges that have been cut off. This makes the movement of people and goods difficult, constraining agriculture and the local and national economy.

In Cameroon, floods caused 119 bridges to collapse between August and November 2024, some of which interrupted traffic to N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. In the same year, floodwaters caused the Diffa-N’guigmi national road to collapse, temporarily closing traffic along the transnational corridor. In Maiduguri, thousands of shops were flooded.

The loss of livestock, arable land and crops exacerbates poverty, food insecurity and joblessness. Thousands of families have had to move to displacement sites under challenging conditions.

The impact of flooding on security is also dire. Resources intended for counter-terrorism are diverted to emergency responses. Forced to respond on two fronts, under-resourced governments and aid agencies redirect personnel, logistics and funding to meet flood victims’ immediate food, shelter and healthcare needs.

During the 2024 Maiduguri floods, Multinational Joint Task Force soldiers used canoes intended for operations against Boko Haram to support relief operations. Army reconnaissance drones have been requisitioned to locate missing people and those trapped in isolated areas. Flood victims overran camps for people displaced by violent extremists, and humanitarian organisations supporting terrorism victims were forced to focus on the floods.

Boko Haram factions exploit the situation by increasing pressure on communities through extortion, taxation for services, and forced recruitment. They also double down on their asymmetrical warfare tactics, which have already forced the army to confront an enemy with no defined front.

Institute for Security Studies research shows that kidnappings increase during the rainy season, because the army struggles to quickly pursue the perpetrators. And while water abundance benefits community fishers, it is more beneficial to Boko Haram, which controls most of the lake’s main fishing areas.

Each year, at least 10 000 fishermen access territories controlled by one Boko Haram faction, Islamic State West Africa Province. The group earns around US$191-million a year, mainly from taxes levied on fishermen.

Current responses to flooding in the Lake Chad Basin are insufficient. Emergency humanitarian aid is reactive rather than preventive, and developmental projects remain vulnerable to floods. Examples of such projects include the Lake Chad Basin Commission’s Regional Stabilization Facility and national plans like the reconstruction plan for Cameroon’s Far North.

The region faces a vicious circle: build, flood, rebuild – without addressing the root causes. Infrastructure solutions are needed to break the cycle.

Ongoing debates generally propose the construction of large reservoirs, which would solve the flooding problem and create jobs in the agricultural sector. There are already several dams in the Lake Chad region, but with floods worsening, their capacity is insufficient. Furthermore, their maintenance is poor, as illustrated by the 2024 collapse of dams in Cameroon and Nigeria that feed Lake Chad, due to a lack of proper maintenance.

In an area where it rains only three months a year, surplus water could be used to develop market gardening, fishing and livestock farming. This would contribute to socioeconomic recovery and food sufficiency, as seen in Maga, Cameroon’s Far North.

Lake Maga retains water from the Logone River, which flows into Lake Chad and has enabled rice cultivation and the creation of the Rice Expansion and Modernization Company. This solution also promotes reforestation, which can support livelihoods and resilience.

The Lake Chad Basin Commission could play a role in water retention infrastructure projects. The regional body’s original mission includes coordinating the actions of member states that may impact the basin’s waters. Major investments would be required, with funding coming from member states and development partners. And the projects must be integrated into existing resilience programmes, all of which require community participation to succeed.

Without addressing flooding, the Lake Chad Basin region won’t achieve lasting resilience and stability. Water retention and infrastructure maintenance are the foundation for other development efforts and terrorism prevention strategies.

Governments, regional bodies and international partners must prioritise flood prevention infrastructure to protect all other investments in the region’s future. 

Written by Célestin Delanga, Research Officer, ISS Regional Office for West Africa and the Sahel