The Federal Government of Nigeria says it has concluded an arrangement to partially commercialise all the dams under the nation’s 12 river basins to enable them effectively deliver their mandates.

Prof. Joseph Utsev, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, made this known on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, shortly after inspecting the Tiga Dam in Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State.

The Minister said the commercialisation of the basins would enable the generation of more revenues for the Federal Government.

Prof. Utsev assured that the infrastructures available at the basins would guarantee a return on investments.

He further expatiated that the exercise would ensure sustainable operations and management of the infrastructure at the dams for positive results.

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He said, ”The basins have huge infrastructure like water supply schemes, dams, and irrigation that require good funding to be able to keep them running and to provide dividends for Nigerians.”

The purpose of the visit was to assess the state of the dam and the challenges with a view to addressing them for optimal growth and utilisation.

The Minister explained the primary reason for constructing the dam was for irrigation, flood control and energy generation.

He said the FG is ready to liaise with commercial farmers to pave the way for massive production of food crops of economic values through an all-year farming system.

”We are ready to partner with commercial farmers. They come and register with us, and we will allow them to tap water from the dam for commercial farming which will help immensely in enhancing food production,” he said.

He noted that one of the major challenges currently facing the dam was the illegal tapping of water from the dam by farmers.

”Farmers are tapping water illegally from the canals and this will have a negative impact, hence we are working towards calling the attention of the farmers so that they will register with the government and the water would be supplied to them.

“We will also update our database for effective service delivery,” the Minister said.

The Managing Director, Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority, Ma’amun Aliyu, revealed that more than three million farmers are benefiting from the Tiga dam while hundreds of others are siphoning the water illegally.

He said the basin had since commenced moves to mobilise all those operating illegally so that they would register.

“The dam, which was built 50 years ago, was constructed on 1.4 billion cubic water capacity, and was done on some five million combined Kano/Jigawa population then, but still not being fully utilised.

“Tiga dam has canals and small dams that link up to Lake Chad through the Kamadugu River Basin in Yobe State,” Aliyu said.

He said with the commercialisation of the dam, more economic inputs would be recorded in the area.