Gabriel Enenche —
Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, yesterday in the country’s capital inaugurated a compendium of irrigation and digital dams infrastructure as part of efforts to attract more investors into the water resources sector. He also said that the Federal Government, through the ministry, embarked on construction of dams to ensure availability of water for all purposes.
Dams he said, are critical to a sustainable development and management of the country’s infinite water resources, noting that it would meet the demands of all water users.
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“Comprehensive information on the collective efforts of interventions by successive governments and private sector participation in the irrigation sector over the years has been sketchy, Adamu said.
“Consequently, the necessity of effective planning to transform and stimulate the sub-sector, brought about the need for a comprehensive data to properly document and harmonize all information on irrigation schemes”.
Adamu while noting that the data provided in the compendium, would be of immense value to dam operators and owners, saying it would also attract and guide future investors, said that a total of 408 dams were documented in the compendium, saying they included 142 large dams, 59 medium dams and 207 small dams.
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He added that the ministry was organizing irrigation farmers into Water User Associations, as a way of strengthening and building capacities for effective operation and maintenance of relevant irrigation schemes in the country.
