The Minister of Water Resources, and Chairman of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA), Engr. Suleiman Adamu, has called on the member states to promote the solidarity that binds them together in line with the will of NBA’s founding fathers.
Adamu, stated this at the expert meeting of the extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers recently in Abuja, saying member states should not allow the aims and objectives of the authority to be defeated.
It would be recalled that the mandate of the NBA is to “promote cooperation between member states sharing the active water shed of the River Niger in the areas of energy, water, agriculture, livestock development and fish farming.
Engr. Adamu noted that Nigeria, being a pioneer member of the organisation, has actively promoted the basin’s natural resources in a sustainable manner based on the shared vision to improve the living standard of the people of the basin and would continue to do so especially now that it is focusing more on agricultural development.
Also, the minister called on all the member countries to live up to their financial responsibilities by paying up their dues regularly to enable the Secretariat exercise its sovereign functions of coordination, monitoring and evaluation of investment actions and capacity building.
He added that a note for a new sharing formula of member countries’ contributions to the NBA’s operating budget would be discusses at the Expert Meeting to enable NBA’s cash flow situation as this would strengthen solidarity among member countries.
While thanking His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, current President of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Niger Basin Authority for accepting to host the Extraordinary Session of the Council of Ministers; the Minister charged the members of committee of Experts to discuss the content of documents submitted dispassionately bearing in mind the interest of the basin populations in promoting solidarity between our countries in line with the will of NBA’s founding fathers.
