Revenue: FG plans commercialisation of dams

The Federal Government says it has concluded an arrangement to partially commercialize all the dams under the nation’s 12 River Basins.

The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, said such move would make the dams to deliver their mandates effectively, as well as generate more revenues for the Federal Government.

He stated this while addressing journalists after inspecting Tiga dam in the Bebeji Local Government Area of Kano State on Wednesday.

The minister said, “The commercialisation of the basins will enable them to generate more revenue for the Federal Government.

“The huge infrastructure availableat the basins would guarantee a return on investments.

“The commercialisation would ensure sustainable operations and management of the infrastructure at the dams.

”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.”

According to him, 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 that the main purpose of constructing the dam was for irrigation, flood control, and energy generation.

He said, “The Federal Government is ready to partner commercial farmers to pave the way for massive production of food crops in an all-year farming system.”

ier, the Managing Director of the Hadejia Jamma’are River Basin Development Authority (HJRBDA), Ma’amun Aliyu, disclosed that more than three million farmers are benefiting from the Tiga Dam while hundreds of others are stealing the water.

“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 utilized,” Aliyu said.

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