FG MOVES TO STOP 3 DAMS ALONG RIVER NIGER

The three dams are Taussa Dam in Mali, Fomi Dam in Guinea Bissau and Kandaji Dam in Niger Republic.The minister of Water Resources, Chief Obadiah Ando, disclosed this while briefing journalists on the 9th Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Niger Basin Authority (NBA).

Ando said the NBA summit would commence with the National Technical Committee scheduled to hold between Sept. 8 and Sept. 11 while the Council of Ministers would hold from Sept. 13 to14.

Ando, who held that the Heads of State summit would hold on Sept. 16, said the summit would discuss the negative impact the construction of those dams would have on Nigeria.

'These three multipurpose dams stretching from the upper sub-hydrological reach of Guinea to Taoussa Dam in Mali on the mainstream and further downstream the Kandaji dam in Niger Republic will have a negative impact on Nigeria. The summit will, among others, discuss the negative impacts on Nigeria and how it could be minimised,' he said.

He said the summit would also discuss ways of optimising water resources management in the Niger Basin in order to improve the living standards of over 30 million people living along the Niger.

'We will discuss sustainability and funding of NBA projects which include the Niger Hydrological System (Niger-HYCOS) monitoring the river flow system. We will also discuss the Water Resources Development and Sustainable Ecosystem Management project in the River Niger which deals with the rehabilitation of Kanji and Jebba dams,' he said.

Ando expressed optimism that the rehabilitation of Kanji and Jebba dams would improve power supply in Nigeria.

He said that the water charter, adopted by member states at the 8th summit held in Niamey in 2008, would be launched during the summit. (NAN)