With the debilitating situation of the oil price in international market, its adverse impact of the already weak Nigerian economy, development experts believe that the country must diversifies its economy to make up for shortages recorded from depleting oil price, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, has decided to look away from oil into other sources of revenue with special focus on agriculture and Solid minerals resources. JOHN OBA, writes on the Ministry of Water Resources determination to enhance agriculture through its policy
The fact that all hands must be on deck for the current administration to achieve it aims in the agricultural sector was at the weekend re-echoed at the three day ministerial retreat of stakeholders in the water sector organized by the ministry of water resources in Abuja as stakeholders are now re-strategising on how to channel the country’s verse water resources to adequately support and properly harness the nation’s agricultural potential.
Addressing participants at the retreat which was aimed at strengthening weaknesses in the delivery of the ministry’s mandate and to develop a “road map” that will enable sustainable positive impact in the water sector within a short period,’ on Friday, the minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Hassan Adamu, reassert the ministry’s readiness to key into the vision of the president by saying since agriculture is the major focus of the government, the must urgent task before his ministry is to align with the most important component of this administration’s change agenda, which is agricultural development. Assuring that the ministry has on ground, huge water infrastructure to support the policy.
He therefore urged the stakeholders at the retreat to examine the role and status of the 12 River Basin Development Authorities in meeting up to the demands of the new agricultural agenda for the country, saying much of the success stories of the life of the administration will depend on effective performance of the River Basins.
Theming the retreat a ‘no holds barred’ retreat to extensively discuss the activities of the ministry with the aim of among others aligning it with the vision of the administration in making water sector a platform for extensive and all year round agricultural practice for food security, employment, reduction on dependence on crude oil earnings, restructure economy, hydropower generation, water supply and sanitation improvement, Adamu express confidence that the assemblage of leaders in the water sector will have rich harvest of ideals and the desired ‘road map’ to navigate the water sector in the desired direction, in short, medium and long terms in line with the priorities of the administration.
He said: “The current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is desirous of uplifting the life of Nigerians citizens by improving the people’s socio-economic well-being. Report by the ministry indicate that implementation of water supply projects and programmes have resulted in increased access to water supply from 58% in year 2010 to 69% in year 2015. The impressive report which requires further verification still implies that about 31% or 52.7 million Nigerians are without access to improved drinking water sources.
Significantly, the trend reveals that Nigeria has failed to reach the MDG target of 75% for improved water supply coverage by the year 2015. We need to change this trend to achieve the sustainable development Goals (SDGs) of 100% access to water supply to our citizens by the year 2030.”
He however lamented the current deficit of irrigation equipment in able 2.6 million hectares of land, as according to him only 15% of the 3.1 million hectares of irrigable land is equipped with facilities for all year round farming.
“Extensive and all year round irrigated agriculture is imperative, considering the drastic decline in earnings from petroleum production. The need to develop other sources of nation income, as a means of generating jobs and wealth creation and the overall urgent need to restructure the economy cannot be over-emphasised.
“Government is also interested in aggregating forces to stem the challenges of climate change associated with the Lake Chad Basin, by pursuing the long proposed inter basin water transfer project to replenish the lake from the Congo Basin, which will mitigate adverse environmental issues in communities around the lake and create an African agricultural economic hub in the region. Restoring Lake Chad will not only improve the lives of the 40 million Africans, who directly depend on it, it is also critical in ameliorating desertification southwards of the sahara,” he explained.
He also stated that the government is also interested in aggregating forces to stem the challenges of climate change associated with the Lake Chad Basin, by pursuing the long proposed inter basin water transfer project to replenish the Lake from the Congo Basin, which will mitigate adverse environmental issues in communities around the lake and create an African agricultural economic hub in the region. Adding that restoring lake Chad will not only improve the lives of the 40 million Africans, who directly depend on it, saying it is also critical in ameliorating desertification southwards of the sahara.
It is a fact that, Nigeria is endowed with abundant water resources according to the 2013 water resources masterplan, Nigeria surface water resources is estimated at 340 billion cubic meters while the ground water is estimated to be 100 billion cube meters. And of the total annual renewable water resources, 77.2% is estimated to be produced locally while the rest is surface water coming from neighbouring countries, the sum total which is well above the 1000m3/capita/year typically used to define water scarcity.
Nigeria’s water resources can therefore adequately support domestic, industrial, agricultural, hydropower, transportation, recreation and many other uses if properly harnessed.
The permanent secretary, Mrs Rabi Jimeta said the retreat will go a long way in setting the right direction for the water sector, harnessing all the availability resources and synergizing all efforts towards better realization of the ministry’s mandate.
She however lamented the challenges hindering the ministry’s from efficiently accomplishing its responsibility in sector despite the enormous potentials of the sector.
