Erosion destroys homes and farmlands in Kano's Mesar Tudu community
Written on
Repeated flooding and erosion have destroyed homes and farmlands in Mesar Tudu, a farming community in Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State, displacing more than 50 households, residents say.
In Mesar Tudu, a rural farming community in Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano State, every rainfall is a warning: water rushing from surrounding settlements carves deeper gullies, collapses mud walls and swallows homes and farmlands. Residents say the erosion crisis began more than two decades ago, after a heavy rain in 2003.
The community, about 40 kilometres from Kano metropolis, sits on low-lying terrain that receives runoff from the upstream villages of Bujawa and Kaurawa Yan'Hudu. Residents say there is no drainage system, and a small dam that once offered protection failed, leaving homes and farms exposed when water gathers and surges through the sandy soil.
"I lost my farm completely. It started like a normal heavy rain. I used to do both rainy-season and dry-season farming because my farm was large, about four acres. I planted maize, millet, guinea corn and groundnuts," Yusuf Abdulwahab, a 72-year-old resident who has lived all his life in Mesar Tudu, told Premium Times. He said erosion swallowed half of the farm first, then consumed the rest five years ago, and is now threatening his house.
Other residents recount similar losses. Yahaya Sa'adu, a 70-year-old father of nine, said erosion took his four-room house "one after the other until everything collapsed", forcing him to move his family to a single rented room in another community. Hassan Ahmed, a teacher, said he relocated after his house collapsed three months after his wedding and he now rents an apartment in Gezawa town.
Community leader Abdullahi Yusuf said more than 50 households have been affected and many have relocated to Gezawa town, where they now rent apartments. "For farms, we cannot even count them anymore. The erosion is eating our community, and we fear it may eventually consume the entire place," he said. Tijjani Muhammad, chairman of the Mesar Tudu Community Development Association, said the community first wrote to the Gezawa Local Government chairman on 5 December 2024 and submitted another letter to the Kano State Watershed, Erosion and Climate Change Management Agency (KN-WECCMA) on 16 March 2026.
Residents say they have repeatedly reported the situation to authorities over the years, without results. "We have written letters. Government officials have come to see the place. But nothing has been done," Yusuf said. During a visit to the community, Premium Times observed deep erosion channels cutting through homes and farmlands, with some houses sitting close to the edge of collapse.