FG-states partnership on water projects not working well – Minister

Minister of Water Resources Suleiman H. Adamu, an engineer, has said the partnership between the Federal Government and some state governments on water projects has not been working very well. In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the minister said many state governments had not been on the same page with the Federal […]

Minister of Water Resources Suleiman H. Adamu, an engineer, has said the partnership between the Federal Government and some state governments on water projects has not been working very well.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the minister said many state governments had not been on the same page with the Federal Government in the area of dam and irrigation.

“The Federal Government has built over 200 dams in the last several years. It is not that once a dam is built, it must provide water supply and irrigation; it is also meant for the state to leverage.

You know we are providing the bulk of water for you, so what stops you from putting up your treatment plants and distributing water to the populace.  They have not been taking advantage of that. If you have a dam, it is for you to do irrigation for farmers,’’ he said.

He said there were instances the Federal Government would even provide the water source, the treatment and the distribution channel and some states would not be able to manage the facilities on a daily basis.

“After providing all these things, should the Federal Government still be the one to manage it on a daily basis? No. So when you now hand over to the state to manage and operate some of these facilities, it will also become a problem because they will not be able to do it,’’ the minister added.

He said the target was to achieve additional 100,000 hectares of irrigable land by 2020, adding, “At the last count we had about 89,000 hectares, so I am hopeful that even if we don’t get 100,000 hectares, we would have over 90,000, which by any standard is a good score.’’

Adamu further said the Federal Government was promoting a World Bank’s project that seeks to rehabilitate and bring in new irrigation hectares for the country. “One of the projects is the Hadeja irrigation site, which was started since the Shagari administration. We are hopeful that by 2023 we would complete it,’’ he said.