The minister of water resources and sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, has disclosed that the Federal government will soon go into partial commercialisation of river basins, adding that this will help boost economic activities, as well as provide job opportunities to the populace.
This is just as he stated that one of the major challenges the dam is currently facing is illegal tapping of the water by farmers.
Prof Utsev made this assertion on Wednesday in Kano during his inspection to the Tiga dam, noting that the aim of his visit was to assess the state of the dam and to address those problems facing them.
He said, “We are in the Tiga dam which is located within the Hadejia Jumare River Basin. It is constructed for multiple purposes. One, is for irrigation purposes, control of flooding and for energy generation (hydro-power).
“So we are here to assess the performance and challenges of the dams, to see areas where the tributaries and canals need to be distilled.
“We would distill them and also encourage farmers to go into agriculture, to go into usage of this water so that they will at their own end use it for their irrigation purposes to boost food production commercially, so that at the end, the country at large will have enough food for both consumption and also export.”
Prof Utsev however disclosed that the Federal government is ever ready to partner with commercial farmers who are interested in enhancing food production.
“We are ready to partner with commercial farmers , they should come and register with us , and we will allow them to tap water from the dam for commercial farming which will help immensely in boosting the food production.
“Like I said, the purpose of this dam is to supply water to the farmers for their irrigation purposes and the commercial farmers that are interested in doing business with the government.
“The dam actually has some challenges which we are trying to look into. One of it is the fact that there are some farmers that are tapping from the dam without our permission
“So, we are trying to look into that and assessment is ongoing in order to capture these farmers and also register them.
“The farmers will come to us, register with us and then we will give them the license to tap the water from the dam. And then use it for their own irrigation purposes. The essence of this is to boost agriculture and food production.
“So by the time we register them and they are in our database, we will now know that these tributaries and canals carrying water to their end can be controlled,” the minister added.
Earlier, the Managing Director of the Hadejia Jammaare, River Basin, Ma’Amun Dau Aliyu, explained that over 2 million farmers are benefiting from the Tiga Dam while hundreds of others are siphoning the water illegally.
He said they have since commenced moves to register all those that are operating illegally so that the Minister and the Federal Government mission of commercialising the water would be quickly achieved.
Mr. Dau Aliyu hinted that the Dam built some 50 years ago was constructed on 1.4 billion cubic water capacity, and was done on some 5 million combined Kano/Jigawa Population, but still, has not been fully utilized.
He said the Tiga Dam has Canals and small Dams that linked up to Lake Chad through Kamadugu River Basin in Yobe State, adding that with the commercialization of the Dam more economic input would be recorded.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
"This project involves the deployment of intelligent video cameras in strategic locations in the state…
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point continuing to fight anymore, life…
“Nuhu Ribadu is a potential president, but it will be difficult for him because he…
"in the preceding week, our gallant troops neutralised scores of terrorists, while others were apprehended.…
"The swift intervention of His Excellency, the Governor, brokered a deal and provided the platform…
Najomo asserted that, while the NCAA will continue to support the airlines, the operators MUST…
This website uses cookies.