The Niger River takes its source in the plateaus of the Fouta-Djallon at an altitude of more than 1,000 m in Guinea and successively crosses Mali, Niger, Benin and Nigeria where it flows into the Atlantic Ocean after a journey of approximately 4,200 km. It is the third longest river in Africa (after the Nile and the Congo), the 14th in the world and the 9th in terms of its drainage basin (2,170,500 km 2). Its watershed active covers an area of approximately 1,500,000 km 2 shared by the nine (9) countries grouped within the Niger Basin Authority: Benin (2%), Burkina Faso (4%), Cameroon (4%), Côte d’Ivoire (1%), Guinea (6%), Mali (26%), Niger (23%), Nigeria (33%) and Chad (1%). The Benue which has its source in Cameroon, receives contributions from the Mayo Kebbi River from Chad, before joining the main course of the Niger River at the confluence of Lokoja in Nigeria, is its most important tributary.
The hydrological year of the Niger River goes from June 1st of a year to May 31st of the following year.
Due to differences between physiographic and climatic characteristics, the Niger River basin is subdivided into 4 sub-basins: The Upper Niger, the Inner Delta, the Middle Niger and the Lower Niger. This annual report of the Niger River for the hydrological year 2023/2024 analyzes the flow situation at stations representative of the different sub-basins: Koulikoro (Mali) for the Upper Niger, Diré (Mali) for the Inner Delta; Niamey (Niger) for Middle Niger and Lokoja (Nigeria) for Lower Niger
The flow monitoring during the hydrological year 2023/2024 was carried out as part of the activities of the Niger Basin Observatory from a hundred hydrometric stations in the hydrological observation networks of the National Hydrological Services and Dam Agencies of NBA member countries. These stations are equipped with Satlink type data collection platforms (PCD), electronic liminigraphs with or without GSM transmission, or simple limnimetric scales with an observer agent who ensures daily readings.

Generally speaking, the hydrological year 2023/2024 was characterized by flows lower than the inter-annual average values in the Upper Niger and the Inner Delta respectively. On the other hand, the flows in the Middle Niger and the Lower Niger were all higher than the inter-annual average values respectively.
As for the water levels of the Sélingué and Kainji dams during the hydrological year 2023/2024, they reached their normal level of 349.00 m on October 15th, 2023 and 141.73 m on October 15th, 2023 respectively. Also throughout the year, these hydraulic structures supported low water levels downstream in order to meet the different needs of users.

Download the 2023-2024 hydrological balance of the Niger Basin