A Non- non-governmental organisation (NGO), Save Nigerians Future (SNF), has appealed to President Bola Tinubu to overhaul the activities of River Basins in the country by tailoring them towards massive food production.
The NGO specifically tasked Mr. President to direct the Minister of Water Resources, Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev, and his Agriculture counterpart, Abubakar Kyari to synergize to make food production their priority in cushioning the suffering Nigerians are passing through.
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Kawali Nasir, and Secretary of SNF, Mrs. Chidima Nwachukwu, a copy made available to Newsmen in Abuja on Monday, the group stated: “We have seen several policies of the government with good merit but lack proper implementation.
“The present administration under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has pledged that the country will experience transformation over time and that the citizenry will experience a better living standard but unfortunately the economic situation in Nigeria is not healthy at the moment as a result of continuous increase in the prices of goods and services in the country.
“Around July 2023 the president declared a state of emergency on food security and urged that there must be a synergy between the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water Resources to guarantee that food is produced all year round.
“The policy is remarkable but action taken towards achieving such good policy is less than 20%. The River Basin Development Authorities across the country are capable of irrigating 100,000 hectares of land and more during the dry season but unfortunately, the irrigation activities of river basin authorities for the year 2023/2024 are less than 10% of its potentials.
“We urge the Federal Government to intensify efforts and show more interest in the implementation of its policies. Most of the river basin authorities have lost focus and the majority of the managing directors have abandoned the core mandate of the organization (Irrigation Agriculture) and committed the Federal Government to spend more on projects not relating to food production or irrigation. In some River Basin Authorities, we have found large earth dams with millions of cubic of water lying fallow.”
It revealed that the news of the malfeasance of some heads of the organization (River Basin Development Authority) is very popular in the media but the government of the day has not taken any significant steps to revive the organization from the hands of the saboteurs.
