International Research Journal of Innovations in Engineering and Technology - IRJIET International Open Access, Monthly, Peer Reviewed, Reputed Journal ISSN (online): 2581-3048

Impact Factor (2025): 6.9

DOI Prefix: 10.47001/IRJIET

Drought and Its Intricating Impacts on Some Areas in Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Drought which is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall leading to shortage of water is a bane to all facets of human activities, especially Agriculture and electricity generation. It cuts across all region but majorly predominant in the Northern part of Nigeria due to its unimodal pattern of rainfall. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the available climatological data and information on droughts to investigate the occurrence of meteorological drought episode over two selected stations in Northern Nigeria by analysing the drought occurrence in the past decades with special focus on drought categories and its impact on the livelihoods and sustainable development of the selected stations. The primary data used for this study were collected from the archive of Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NIMET) for the period of 30 years 1987 to 2016 and the two selected stations are Kano and Maiduguri.

The study reveals the growing importance of precipitation forecasts in Maiduguri, particularly the amount, timing, duration and distribution of rainfall. Rainfall was cited as the major cause of drought by 98 percent of the respondents in the catchment. Whilst meteorological rainfall forecasts are available through various channels they are not readily accessible to rural communities. Effective drought forecasting and warning requires the adoption of a protocol that includes the science of monitoring and forecasting and can give a wealth of information on how different groups can use the forecast in support of their decision making. The study also established that the annual and seasonal occurrence of drought in the two stations is becoming less frequent for the last 30 years. In annual scale, the major climate character in the two stations changed from dry to wet after 1995; in seasonal scale, most of the drought events happened before the early 2000s. It was also observed that from 1994 to 2016, the ratio of drought influencing areas and all degrees of drought frequency areas to the two stations have a dramatic decreasing trend, particularly the moderate drought. 

Country : Nigeria

1 Dada B.M.

  1. Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

IRJIET, Volume 6, Issue 3, March 2022 pp. 75-87

doi.org/10.47001/IRJIET/2022.603012

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