Kangimi Dam Cracks Worsen Under Tinubu After Years of Warnings and Neglect by Past Governments

The Niger State Emergency Management Agency has raised an urgent alarm over structural cracks at the Kangimi Dam in Kaduna State, warning that a collapse could trigger catastrophic flooding across Kaduna, Niger States and the Federal Capital Territory. The agency’s Director General, Abdullahi Baba Arah, said any significant failure of the dam could release a large volume of water and destroy communities, roads, bridges and farmland downstream.He called for immediate technical assessment and preventive action, especially as the rainy season intensifies.

But the cracks at Kangimi Dam are not new. In January 2018, six communities behind the dam raised the alarm over cracks on its walls and called on the Kaduna State Government to repair them urgently.The communities said the cracks appeared after a thunder strike in October 2017.They warned that if nothing was done, the dam could collapse.The government at the time, led by Governor Nasir El-Rufai, promised to look into the problem and tackle it promptly.But nothing was done.

Eight years have passed since that warning. Eight years of neglect. Eight years of governments that failed to act. Now the cracks are visible again, and the Niger State Emergency Management Agency is warning that millions of lives are at risk.

The Kaduna State Government has dismissed reports of an imminent collapse, claiming the images circulating online are from 2015 and 2016 and that remedial measures were undertaken at the time.But if the dam was repaired in 2016, why is it cracking again in 2026? Why are there visible cracks now? Why did the government not conduct regular maintenance to prevent this situation? The government admitted that maintenance activities have been minimal over the years.

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President Bola Tinubu’s administration has been in power for three years. It has had ample time to address the structural issues at Kangimi Dam. It has done nothing.Instead, it has spent trillions of naira on the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway while ignoring a dam that threatens millions of lives. The government has found billions for road projects that benefit the wealthy, but it cannot find the resources to secure a dam that could kill thousands of Nigerians.

The Kangimi Dam crisis is a damning indictment of the Tinubu government’s failure to protect Nigerian lives. The government that promised to prioritise infrastructure has allowed a critical dam to deteriorate to the point of collapse. The government that claims to care about the welfare of Nigerians has ignored repeated warnings about a potential disaster. And now, as the rains intensify and the cracks widen, millions of Nigerians are at risk because of the government’s gross negligence.

NSEMA has called for immediate technical assessment, comprehensive flood-risk assessments, early-warning systems and emergency evacuation plans.But these are measures that should have been taken years ago. These are measures that should have been implemented when the communities first raised the alarm in 2018. These are measures that the government has consistently failed to take.

The Tinubu administration must act immediately. It must conduct a thorough technical assessment of the Kangimi Dam. It must implement emergency remedial measures. It must activate early-warning systems and prepare evacuation plans. It must explain to the Nigerian people why it allowed a dam that threatens millions of lives to deteriorate to the point of collapse. The people of Kaduna, Niger and the FCT deserve answers. They deserve action. And they deserve a government that takes their safety seriously.

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