“How much calamity can one nation endure?”

When Fatima [not real name] woke up on an early October morning, she never imagined that by the end of the day, she would have lost everything she had to her name. But when disaster strikes, it hardly comes with a forewarning.

In 2012, Nigeria suffered a great tragedy when its neighbour, Cameroon, opened its Lagdo dam, flooding Nigeria. This flood displaced more than 7.7 million people, killing 363 people and destroying almost 600,000 houses.

To prevent a recurrence of this disaster, Nigeria reached an agreement with Cameroon to create a buffer. Nigeria would build its own dam, twice the size of the Lagdo dam, to mitigate the effects of Cameroon releasing excess water from its dam.

Lagdo dam was built in 5 years, from 1977 to 1982, but by 2022, a decade after the agreement, the Nigerian government had failed to uphold its side of the proposed agreement, damning the entire country to a bleak fate.

That’s what happened when Nigeria experienced its worst flood in over a decade, in October 2022, a disaster that could have been averted with the right preparation, proper planning, and adequate infrastructure.

The flooding has been linked to heavy rainfalls, the devastating impacts of climate change, the overflow of local rivers, and most consequentially, the emergency release of excess water from the Lagdo dam reserve in northern Cameroon.

In one life-altering moment, Fatima lost her five children, her home, and her valuables. And she’s not alone.

The impact

So far, the current flood has affected 27 out of Nigeria’s 36 states, killing at least 603 people, submerging entire settlements, displacing 1.4 million others, and destroying large swathes of farm land and property worth billions of naira. The videos and images we’ve seen so far have been heart wrenching. People have lost their homes and livelihoods, driven away by death and destruction. Many have no means to relocate and will return to their homes on flood plains after the water levels subside.

A difficult season is upon Nigerians, especially for those directly affected by the floods. And those not directly affected will also feel the effects soon: food inflation, gas hikes, fuel scarcity, insecurity, public health disasters, and a possible spike in the poverty rate.

Although the authorities are providing food and other types of support, other major concerns Nigerians might face are increased spread of disease, and a disruption in the supply of food and fuel. In most cases, the help provided by the government has been negligible.

And this disaster is far from over. Experts expect flooding to continue until the end of November, and something has to be done fast.

That’s why we are trying to help.

NFTs for good

Keith Grossman says the concept of #cryptoforgood—where the tools, technologies and monetary assets of the ecosystem can be used to help others—is one of the best educators for Web3 adoption. Crypto and Web3 empowers people all over the world to unite towards a particular goal. The flood in Nigeria presents a great opportunity for us to come together to save lives through the power of crypto.

Faces of Web3 is launching a 15k collection of NFTs on Ethereum and Tezos blockchains to raise funds to help the people most affected by the flooding in Nigeria. 85% of the proceed will go to the affected people and charity organizations on ground with 15% allocated for operations and gas fees to power the entire activity.

To the Web3 community, we need your support and would love your assistance in making this a successful fundraiser. We are on a mission to help get victims out of the affected areas, provide them basic necessities including food and shelter through community leaders and non-profit organizations at these sites.

We have spoken to people like @@enibo_albert and @Nativepreacher, already putting in the work we are embarking on through legacy channels and are confident that with Web3, we can support their activities and provide succour to those who need us the most. It’s not just the capital we require to make this a success; we need volunteers: artists, moderators, care representatives, space hosts and other people willing to do whatever they can to make this project a success and save Nigeria in these trying times. We’ve received so much help from creators in web3, we need more.

• As we may know, transparency in blockchain is one of its very tenets so everything will be open for everyone to see the funds raised and how it's disbursed. To stay accountable to you, we have created a @safe wallet to ensure one member of the team will never be in charge of the funds. Also, facesofweb3 will publish detailed reports on how we execute the project, who we give the funds to, how it is used and the amount of lives touched.

To volunteer for NaijaFloodAid, please fill this form. We need all the help we can get. 🙏🏾

If you’re a community leader providing help on ground please reach out to us via @NaijaFloodAid on Twitter. Feel free to tag anyone on ground that needs us as well, we’d be happy to reach out.

To purchase an NFT, click here. There is no max, you can mint as many pieces as you like. Your purchase will help ensure that families have a place to lay their heads and make it easier for them to restart their lives again. Remember, the more you mint, the more lives we can reach.

Roadmap

Phase 1: Grassroot level presence establishment and presence.

We’ll partner with community leaders to provide food and resources for the affected victims.

Phase 2: Assign a project manager who will be in charge of providing shelter for the affected victims and disburse funds via crypto and fiat channels.

Phase 3: Provide updates on the state of the victims and their new lives.

Visit www.Naijafloodaid.xyz to learn more about the project, keep up to date with our progress and see how we are helping.

All our love,

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