How river basin authority disbursed 2013 allocation

The roles of the River Basins in the economy might have been unnoticed due to its covert nature but the activities of the development authority has left so much to be desired and called for more funding from the government. The River Basins spread across the six geo-political zones in the country has got a […]

The roles of the River Basins in the economy might have been unnoticed due to its covert nature but the activities of the development authority has left so much to be desired and called for more funding from the government.
The River Basins spread across the six geo-political zones in the country has got a sizeable amount of allocation from the federal government. Expectedly considering this allocation set aside for the River Basin Development Authority by the federal government while rendering the focal function of water generation and distribution it has also yielded revenue for the Federal Government.
However, the permanent secretary of ministry of water resources Alhaji Baba Umar Farouk while addressing the press recently stated that he could not give a figure to the amount allocated to the ministry on River basin Authority but the various Managing Directors of the zones were able to mention the amount appropriated and released to them.
While reeling out the achievement of the Authority, the Managing Director of the Lower basin/River Basin Development Authority Engr. Dr Roseline Ada Chenge said the three river basins under the North Central zone which includes the Lower Benue, Lower Niger and the Upper Niger River basins achieved 99.5% in 2013.
The federal government in the 2013 appropriated the sum of N4.7 billion to the lower Benue river basin development authority while N4.6 billion was released and the upper Niger was appropriated 3.847billiion and 3.843 billion. The lower Niger River basin authority was appropriated N4.2billion and 3.5billion was released making 79 percent performance with the 99 percent performance in the two other basins, the average comes to 89.9 percent performance for the budgets released to this geopolitical zones.
She said this development authority has affected water generation in the country with an increased in boreholes and earth dams in the country. Aside providing succor to farmers it has also been influential to power generation in the country and generated revenue and employment as well.