What has been at the centre stage of recent discussion is the water crisis affecting the Lake Chad basin. Over the centuries, the lake had sustained agriculture and other commercial activities. Its fresh water and resources have been a source of livelihood to many Africans, but due to the effects of climate change, the water started a slow but deliberate process of unchecked shrinkage that has now reached a very low level, which before used to cover an area of 25,000 square kilometers and shrinking to just 2,500 km2 as at today, due to human activities and climate change, among others.
Apart from the danger of losing the Lake Chad, another importance of water resources is the ability to provide jobs to many people. No doubt, the high unemployment rate in the country continues to be a source of concern to many people. Unemployment not only makes able-bodied men and women to rot way, it promotes idleness that often creates an unpleasant atmosphere that in turn breeds negative tendencies and anti-social vices.
This can be done through selfemployment programmes such as agriculture that could assist many young persons as possible, to become fully engaged. Even though, most youths would rather prefer to get white-collar employment, the reality of the day is that very limited opportunity exists in that area. Over the years, a number of policies and programmes have been instituted to promote agricultural practices in the country without much emphasis on water development. A recent submission by Professor Johnson Adewumi, a Professor of Soil and Water Engineering and the Dean, College of Engineering (COLENG), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, is worthy of being considered.
The Professor observed that presently, people were no longer interested in farming because nobody wants to bend their back tiling and clearing the soil. According to him, majority of people that even had the money for farming would rather prefer to go into fi shery, piggery and poultry farming, which seem to require less energy to carry out.
Based on this, he called on the government to open up large hectares of land in every geo-political zone of the country and practice mechanised farming. He further charged the government, its agricultural agencies and individual farmers to be engaged and be committed to crop farming in order to get the best and avoid the problem of poverty in the land. Sharing his research works and its benefits, Professor Adewumi said he had worked on the Drip Irrigation Project, which was funded by the Agricultural Research Council of Nigeria (ARCN) that was meant to conserve water for crop production.
He also revealed that under his supervision, irrigation software had been written and is waiting to be patented such that anyone that wishes to write or use it would get necessary permission. He described Nigerian land as a blessed one, where irrigation can be practiced in any part of the country, drawing examples from the nation of Israel; Professor Adewumi said irrigation was Israel’s main source of livelihood, which it practiced successfully, considering the country’s peculiar nature of land. He went further to stress that if irrigation was to be fully practiced in Nigeria, the diverse nature of the country should be considered, as much money would be spent in the southern part of the country for clearing before irrigation could be carried out, unlike in the north, where less would be spent, considering the nature of the land.
He also frowned at what he described as the over-dependence on government for everything, as it is obtainable in the country in which the people tend to think less with what they can do for themselves, charging the public authorities to empower the teeming unemployed youths to go into agriculture by providing the necessary mechanisation to work with. Despite the revelations by researchers, academics and experts, it is discouraging that most of the valuable suggestions are either poorly implemented never executed at all.
That is why findings by Professor Adewumi should be critically examined by the federal, state and local governments in the country for possible adoption. Not only that, previous reports and recommendations from our research institutes and higher educational institutions should not be allowed to gather dusts.
Nigerians have no basis being hungry because the nation is blessed with rich, abundant natural, human and water resources. What we only need is the combination of good leadership and the commitment to turn around our fortunes for the benefit of all and not for few persons.
We need to urgently have a refocus in terms of agriculture, if we are ready to move forward out of lack and misery. As concerted efforts are being made to recharge Lake Chad, the cost of recharging the lake has been put at between $15 billion and $20 billion. This is where members of the basin should ensure that all that is necessary is put in place to salvage this rich resource. Nigeria, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Libya should work seamlessly in achieving this goal. Nigeria should certainly take the lead.
