FEDERAL MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NIGERIA’S WATER RESOURCES SECTOR

Presented by Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, FNSE

Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Water Resources

at the2018 Academy Annual Lecture of The Nigerian Academy

of Engineering, Lagos

June 21, 2018

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NIGERIA’S WATER SECTOR

1. INTRODUCTION

2. STATUS OF THE WATER RESOURCES SECTOR AS AT NOVEMBER 2015

Policy, Legislation and Institutional Issues Water Supply Sanitation Irrigation Dams River Basins

3. CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WATER RESOURCES SECTOR

4. FUTURE PLANS

5. CONCLUSION

CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN NIGERIA’S WATER SECTOR

1. INTRODUCTION

I am aware that The Nigerian Academy of Engineering provides a platform for harnessing the technological resources of our nation and making inputs to national developmental process at the highest level of Governance. I am also aware that Fellows of the Academy are accomplished experts and professionals in diverse engineering disciplines and related backgrounds. It is therefore my honour and privilege to deliver this year’s 2018 Academy Annual Lecture of The Nigerian Academy of Engineering titled “Current Developments in Nigeria’s Water Sector’.

Nigeria’s population is currently estimated at about 198million. It has a total land area of 923,768 Km2, divided into Eight (8) Hydrological Areas. Nigeria, with an average annual precipitation of 1,150mm (ranging from >4,000mm in the south to <350mm in the North) has a total water resources potential of about 375 Billion Cubic Meters (BCM)/year made up of about 287 BCM/year generated internally and about 88 BCM/year from transboundary sources. Nigeria is indeed not a water poor country but due to inequitable distribution, poor sectoral investments, and other challenges, can be regarded as potentially water stressed. Presently the total demand for water supply, agriculture, aquaculture, livestock etc is estimated at about 80 BCM/year and is expected to surpass 160 BCM/year by 2030.

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This presentation discusses the Status of the Water Sector as at November 2015 when I assumed office as Honorable Minister of Water Resources and outlines the actions we have undertaken in the last two and a half years towards revitalizing and improving performance of the Sector.

Permit me to quickly itemize some of the challenges in the water sector as follows:

Inadequate Policy Issues Poor Funding/Low Budgetary Provisions Absence of effective Legal and Regulatory Framework Institutional and human capacity weaknesses Lack of Political Will Delays in Budgetary Appropriation by the Legislature Arbitrary Budgetary Allocations by the Legislature Poor Investment by State Governments Lack of enabling environment for Private Sector Participation Poor Revenue Generation and inadequate Cost Recovery for

Services Inadequate Power Supply Lack of ownership of water facilities by beneficiary Communities Poor Operations and Maintenance culture

2. STATUS OF THE WATER SECTOR AS AT NOVEMBER 2015

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2.1 Policy, Legislation & Institutional Issues

The mandate of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources is to develop & implement policies, projects & programmes that will enable sustainable access to safe and sufficient water to meet the social, cultural, environmental and economic development needs of all Nigerians.

The Ministry Organizational Structure consists of five (5No.) Operational Departments, eight (8) Service Departments, nine (9) Service Units and sixteen (16) Agencies & Parastatals including 12 Nos. River Basin Development Authorities as follows:

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As at 2015, the only potent policy document for the water sector is the National Water Resources Masterplan, developed with a grant assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The Masterplan reviewed and made recommendations on how best to manage the water resources of the country with respect to institutional development, water supply, food security (agriculture, aquaculture, and livestock) and general impoundment for other uses. Unfortunately, the development of our water resources over the last several years has not been aligned with the Masterplan, and most of the projects embarked upon were either not properly planned and/or not adequately funded, leading to many abandoned and uncompleted projects.

As at 2015 there were 116 ongoing large projects in the Ministry (Irrigation 37; Dams 38; Water Supply 41) many of which were either abandoned or comatose because they required review of scope or cost or lacked consistent funding to complete. Most of the projects had only attained 40% - 60% level of completion while outstanding liabilities on them stood at N 88,848,112,579.77 and additional total contractual commitment to completion was N 264,990,081,982.53. It was therefore clear that poor project funding was a major challenge to their delivery, resulting in many of the projects having time and costs overrun.

The absence of other robust policy documents that would guide the activities in the water sector contributed to the failure to adequately implement the Masterplan. The National Water Resources Bill and National Water Resources Policy were in limbo, there was no Irrigation and Drainage Policy and the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy adopted in 2000 needed critical review. It was sad that the National Water Resources Bill that had been under preparation since 2006 could not see the light of day up to 2015.

It was obvious that the absence of important policy documents and legal instruments posed a serious threat to the development of the water resources sector. It became imperative that we must have in place the appropriate water resources legislation and ensure that all our relevant policy documents are current and active.

Institutional lapses and inadequacies were evident in the Ministry as at 2015, especially in the deployment of human resources, technical capacity, planning, design and contract administration of Projects, and in areas of data generation and management. Important departments such as Planning, Research & Statistics and River Basin Development

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Operations & Inspectorate were headed by non-technical personnel and could not therefore adequately deal with the challenges at hand.

2.2 Water SupplyThe National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy (2000), though outdated, establishes the daily water demand for Urban dwellers at 120 litre/capita/day, Semi Urban (Small Towns) at 60 litre/capita/day and for Rural dwellers at 30 litre/capita/day. In 2015, the National Water Supply coverage was 69% comprising of Urban: 80%, Semi Urban (small towns): 68% and Rural: 60%. This implies that 31% or 52.7 million Nigerians did not have access to water supply, with high concentration in the rural areas.

Nigeria was not able to meet the MDGs target on access to water supply, particularly with decline in access in the rural areas. It became necessary that concerted effort must be put in place to improve the trend towards achieving 100% access to water supply by 2030 (at a time when the population is estimated to grow to 257 million), in accordance with the newly adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Recent study has further established that pipe-borne water supply especially in the urban areas is on the decline from 30% national coverage in 1990 to about 7% in 2015. This unpleasant revelation made it necessary that we embark on a new aggressive effort to address the situation. In order to be successful, all tiers of Government must partner to ensure radical changes and improvement in the sector.

2.3 SanitationAccess to Sanitation has been in the decline from 30% in 2010 to 28% in 2015. Open defecation has been on the increase and there was not a single LGA in Nigeria that is Open Defecation Free. Amongst the challenges of curbing open defecation is the lack of adequate political support and poor coordination of efforts between all stakeholders, particularly the different tiers of Government.

Challenges of Sanitation are not only limited to rural areas. It is equally a huge problem in urban areas, especially in public places and urban slums.

2.4 IrrigationNigeria has the potential of about 3.14 million Ha of land suitable for irrigation out of which about 440,853Ha has been planned. However,

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only 128,097Ha of the planned area has been developed and about 50,000 Ha of the developed area has been lost to failed infrastructure and poor operations and maintenance. The current annual water demand for irrigation in wet and dry seasons including Fadama lands is about 1.926 BCM which translates to about 0.7% of our national internally generated potential. The total water demand for the planned irrigated area of more than 400,000 Ha is calculated as 6.245 BCM/year translating to about 2.2% of our water resources potential. This goes to show how much we have been under utilizing our irrigation and our food production potentials.

2.5 DamsDams are man-made water retaining structures for the purpose of water supply, food production (irrigation, aquaculture, livestock, etc), flood control, hydropower generation, etc. There are over 250 large and medium dams across the country with a storage capacity of about 30 BCM/year. The storage capacity of these dams is far more than the future demand estimated to the year 2030. Water Demand Analysis has shown that there is enough storage capacity in each of the 8 Hydrological Areas even without taking into consideration the large hydropower dams, as indicated in the table below.

Hydrologi-cal Area.

Supply Capacity – MSFR (without Large hydropower dams (Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro) ***

Water Demand (MCM/year)

90%Yearly Dependable (MCM/Year)

80%Yearly Dependable (MCM/Year)

with existing dams

with existing & UC dams

with existing dams

with existing & UC dams

Existing (2010)

Future (2030)

HA-1 1,190 1,208 1,665 1,666 489 754 HA-2 2,032 2,466 3,218 3,492 796 1,783 HA-3 2,195 2,306 2,421 2,594 172 1,679 HA-4 2,496 4,177 3,993 5,097 275 2,405 HA-5 2,098 3,069 6,000 6,402 1,150 4,660 HA-6 1,306 1,840 2,086 2,324 345 1,697 HA-7 459 556 1,427 1,502 89 341

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HA-8 1,107 1,107 1,348 1,348 411 870(UC: Under Construction)Almost all the dams in the country are not utilized optimally to serve the purpose of their existence. Their management and operation is poor and they lack basic instrumentation gadgets. In addition, poor watershed management, growing siltation of rivers and climate change are becoming a serious challenge to the storage capacities and operational efficiency of these dams and reservoirs.

2.6 River Basins Development AuthoritiesThere are currently twelve (12No.) River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) at different locations in Nigeria under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources. The River Basin Authorities were modelled after the United States Tennessee Valley Basin Development concept following the drought of the 1970s. Their primary functions are to serve as the operators, managers, and developers of water resources infrastructure within their catchments to bring prosperity as integrated rural development drivers, especially in areas of food production and employment generation.

Over the years, the performance of the RBDAs has not been desirable, not due to technical failings per se, but largely on account of policy and institutional inadequacies. With the unfortunate decision of the then Technical Committee on Privatization and Commercialization (TCPC) to strip them of their “non water” assets in the late 80’s and making them solely managers of irrigation infrastructure, River Basin operations further deteriorated.

For the River Basin Authorities to regain their lost glory and perform optimally to deliver the mandate of their establishment, they require complete restructuring to operate as technical and professional agencies with clear objectives. There was therefore the compelling need for institutional, organizational and policy reforms that would propel the River Basin Authorities to serve as effective vehicles for integrated rural development, as originally envisioned.

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3 CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE WATER SECTOR

On assumption of office as Minister of Water Resources in November 2015, we rolled out a programme of actions to begin addressing the problems in the sector, commencing with a Ministerial Retreat from which was developed “Immediate and Long-Term Strategies for the Water Sector (2016 – 2030)” tagged “The Water Sector Roadmap”. The Current Developments in the sector are guided by this Roadmap.

3.1 The Water Sector RoadmapThe Water Sector Roadmap was developed to achieve the following:i. Conclusion of the Draft National Water Resources Policy, National

Irrigation & Drainage Policy and National Water Resources Bill;ii. Organisation and Manpower Review of the Ministry towards

repositioning it for enhanced service delivery;iii. Prioritizing and executing the Ministry’s Projects and

Programmes;iv. Developing and implementing a National Irrigation Development

Programme;v. Identification of Dams with Hydro Power Potential for

Development;vi. Developing and Implementing a National Water Supply and

Sanitation Programme to attain the SDGs;vii. Developing a Blueprint and Action Plan to strengthen the River

Basin Development Authorities; andviii. Creating Partnerships as alternative sources of funding projects.

3.2 Policy, Legislation & Institutional ReformsPursuant to the Roadmap we were able to secure approval of the National Water Resources Bill, National Water Resources Policy and National Irrigation and Drainage Policy by the Federal Executive Council in September 2016. The National Water Resources Bill is receiving the attention of the National Assembly and it is our hope that the Bill which will establish effective water sector governance will be passed into Law this year. The Bill is bringing all the various water related laws together and streamlining overlaps with other legislations especially the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) governing laws. The Bill when passed into Law will, among other issues, provide for effective catchment management, greater participation of farmers in irrigation management and a regulatory framework for private sector participation in water supply delivery in the country. The National Water Resources Policy & Strategy and the National Irrigation & Drainage Policy have been

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circulated to stakeholders nationwide for implementation. The passage of the National Water Resources Bill into Law will be the “icing on the cake” for sustainable water governance in Nigeria.

As part of the tasks outlined in the Roadmap, we embarked on organizational reforms of the Ministry with a view to strengthening it, first by undertaking a diagnosis of the Ministry’s structure and establishing the human resources and professionalization required to achieve its mandate. In this regard, we have now professionalized the Department of River Basin Operations & Inspectorate (DRBOI) and Department of Planning Research and Statistics (PRS), with relevant professionals now heading them. Effort is also on-going to fill existing vacancies and address inherent succession problems. In addition, we are entrenching a purposeful training and retraining culture for staff to build sustainable human resource capacity. Considering that the Ministry is a technical one, we have also embarked on mandatory training in Project Management for all senior staff to enhance efficiency of project delivery. Data collection and management, monitoring and evaluation are now strongly emphasized in the Ministry to aid effective planning and execution of our mandate.

In addition to the 12 RBDAs, the Ministry is also administering four (4) other agencies, namely:

Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) Nigerian Integrated Water Resources Commission, and Gurara Water Management Authority

The Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) was established in May 2010 with the statutory responsibility to undertake Hydrological Services for assessment of the nation’s vast water resources through collection, collation, storage, analysis and dissemination of hydro-meteorological, geological, hydro-geological, water quality data and information. Since its establishment, the Agency has been making effort to accomplish the set tasks, but it is challenged by paucity of funding and lack of adequate human resources. According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Nigeria requires 482 hydro-meteorological stations nationwide, but only 274 are presently available. We are making effort to increase funding for the Agency to improve its services. In addition, the RBDAs have also been mandated to establish more hydro-meteorological stations to complement the effort of NIHSA towards achieving the 482 stations for the country.

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The National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) was established in 2004 and charged with the responsibility of training Water Engineers, Geologists, Hydrogeologists, Technologists and Technicians in the Water Sector. The Institute is also responsible for the training of sector stakeholders and conduct of applied research in all aspects of water resources in the country. The Institute is additionally responsible for establishment and maintenance of Water Resources Library, as well as publication of Water Resources journals. The Institute has lived up to its bidding over the years by continually training and retraining relevant middle level manpower for the water sector, thereby enhancing technical capacity in the water sector. It has now attained the status of Category 2 UNESCO Training Center and is also collaborating with six (6) Nigerian Universities.

The Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) unfortunately exists without any law backing it for now. Once the Water Law is passed, the IWRM shall become the Regulatory Agency for the Water Sector.

The Gurara Water Management Authority (GWMA) was established principally to manage the beneficial uses derived from construction of Gurara Dam including the Dam itself, Water Supply, Irrigation and Hydropower. However, this is considered non-sustainable and against the tradition whereby similar facilities are handed over to the RBDAs for operations and management. The existence of this Agency is therefore considered counterproductive, and it has recently been wound up and the responsibility of managing some of the facilities transferred to Upper Niger River Basin Development Authority.

3.3 Water Supply & SanitationAs earlier indicated, Nigeria was unable to attain the MDG targets for access to water supply and sanitation. This is due to poor investments, low capacity and other challenges in the sub – sector. The National Access to potable water and adequate sanitation as at 2015 was 69% and 29% respectively. However, national access to pipe-borne water supply is only at 7%. It was recently estimated that about US$ 5.0 Billion annual investment will be required to meet the SDG targets. The current level of investment is less than half a Billion Dollars.

Inadequate water and sanitation infrastructure, population increase, and rapid urbanization have created a serious deficiency in the quality of life of an average Nigerian with dire consequences on sanitation,

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food, security, health, employment and standard of living. Arising from the foregoing, we have properly diagnosed the challenges of improved access to water supply and sanitation in the country, and we are beginning to proffer solutions in collaboration with the State Governments who are directly responsible for provision of potable water. Thus, we have taken the following steps:

I. Initiated in 2016 a National Programme tagged “Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation & Hygiene (PEWASH)” as a national collaborative instrument to mobilize resources and harness the efforts of Governments at all levels, Development Partners, Private Sector, NGOs, Philanthropists and Communities towards the same objectives and targets of achieving 0% Open Defecation and 100% Access to Water Supply & Sanitation by 2030 in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals.

The planned scope and goals of the PEWASH are as follows:

Water Supply: 2016 – 2030

2016-2018 Rehabilitation of 77,693 facilities and provision of 17,264 new facilities to increase access to rural water supply from 57% to 62%

2019-2025 Provision of 42,201 new facilities to increase access to rural water supply from 62% to 80%

2026-2030 Provision of 41,287 new facilities to increase access to rural water supply from 80% to 100%

Sanitation - 2016 – 2030

2016-2018 A total of 3,000,000 House Hold toilets (at an average of 1,000,000 HH toilets per year) and 3,300 public toilets (at an average of 10,100 toilets per year) during the period reducing open defecation from 25% to 22%

2019-2025 A total of 20,600,000 House Hold toilets (at an average of 2,942,857 HH toilets per year) and 7,700 public toilets (at an average of 10,100 toilets per year) during the period reducing open defecation from 22% to 0%

The PEWASH program will also provide entrepreneurial opportunities for private water & sanitation services. It is

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expected that private participants especially our teeming unemployed youth can obtain micro-credits and key into the business of providing water & sanitation services, particularly in public places.Twenty – two (22) States of the Federation have so far endorsed the PEWASH Protocol (PP). The first two States that promptly responded to the Protocol, namely Kano and Ogun States were selected for pilot implementation.

II. We are implementing a reform programme for State Water Agencies to improve capacity, revenue generation and towards efficient operations and management of facilities. A new budget line has been created to support urban water projects by up to 30% Federal Government contribution, if they meet stipulated conditions. International Financing Institutions and development partners notably the World Bank, African Development Bank, French Development Agency, etc, are also supporting this initiative. About 15 States are currently participating in the reform programme.

III. On Sanitation, we are vigorously implementing programmes for Nigeria to attain Open Defecation Free status by 2025, well ahead of the SDGs target of 2030. We are doing this in collaboration with Development Partners. So far, there are five (5) Local Government Areas in the Country that have entirely attained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, with the celebration of the first LGA to be Open Defecation Free, Obanliku LGA in Cross River State in April 2017. Four (4) other Local Government Areas that have since then attained ODF status include: Dass and Warji LGAs (Bauchi State) and Yakur and Bekwara LGAs (Cross River State). Five (5) more LGA are now ready for ODF certification after necessary verification procedures have been undertaken. This will bring the total ODF LGAs in the country to ten (10) by the end of 2018. However, there are also thousands of communities that have achieved ODF status in the last 2 years.

IV. Recently, the Federal Executive Council approved a National Action Plan for Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) with the declaration of a State of Emergency on the WASH Sector. The goal of the Action Plan is to strengthen Federal-State Partnership towards ensuring that all Nigerians have access to sustainable and safely-managed WASH services by 2030, in compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets for Water (Goal 6.1) and Sanitation (Goal 6.2). At the heart of the Action Plan is the establishment of a National

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WASH Fund to mobilize funding from all possible sources to meet the investment gap of the sector, and a call on the States to legislate against open defecation in general, among other measures.

3.4 Irrigation Development ProgrammeNigeria has 3.14million Ha of potentially irrigable land, of which 57.3% (1.8million Ha) lies in the Niger – Benue valleys. Only about 130,000 Ha of the irrigable land has been developed, while actual active irrigated area is about 70,000 Ha. There is therefore a huge gap between the irrigation potential of 3.14 million Ha and the actual area of 70,000 Ha currently under active irrigation.In order to aid diversification of our economy, guarantee food security and create employment we have initiated, under the Roadmap, the National Irrigation Development Programme which is aimed to establish additional 100,000 Ha of irrigated farmland by 2020 and realize up to 500,000 Ha by 2030. Implementation of the National Irrigation Development Programme is in three (3) Phases as follows:

I. Phase I - 2016 - 2020 - 100,000 HaII. Phase II - 2021 - 2025 - 175,000 HaIII. Phase III – 2026 - 2030 - 225,000 Ha

We also plan for additional 1,000,000 Ha of irrigable land to be developed by the private sector and State Governments within the same period. Our current efforts in the Ministry will enable us to deliver 42,000 Ha in 2018 and 41,000 Ha in 2019. Furthermore, the World Bank is supporting the implementation of the Transforming Irrigation Management in Nigeria Project (TRIMING) with a credit facility of US$495million. The Project involves rehabilitation/expansion of about 42,000Ha of irrigation land under the first phase, to be completed by 2022, as follows:I. Bokolori Irrigation Project (Work commenced in 2017) - 13,500 Ha

II. Kano River Irrigation Project (Procurement process completed) - 14,400 Ha

III. Hadejia Valley Irrigation Project (Procurement process completed, Construction commenced following the Flag off of by President Muhammadu Buhari on 14th May, 2018) – 6,000 Ha

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IV. Dadin Kowa Irrigation Project (Studies completed) – 3,000 Ha

V. Middle Rima Irrigation Project (Studies nearing completion) – 5,000 Ha

The TRIMING project also addresses rural poverty reduction through progressive management transfer to users’ regulated bodies in the form of Water User Associations (WUAs). The TRIMING concept is to be applied in the future management of irrigation schemes nationwide.

3.5 River Basin Development AuthoritiesIn the last two and half years, we have taken concrete steps to revitalize our River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) which were established to boost agricultural production in the country, through all year-round farming, to guarantee Nigeria’s food security and achieve integrated rural development. The revitalization of the RBDAs commenced with the development of an Action Plan and Blue Print in February 2016 by a high level Committee of technical experts inaugurated by me. Notable amongst the recommendations contained in the Action Plan include the creation of the office of Executive Director Agricultural Services and restoration of agricultural extension services in all the RBDAs, the implementation of a Graduate Youth Empowerment in Agriculture Programme and the adoption of Songhai Model Integrated Rural Development Strategy.

It is the recommendations of the Action Plan that guided us in restructuring the RBDAs and appointing new professional management teams. Only relevant professionals now head the RBDAs and nine (9) out of the twelve (12) Managing Directors are engineers. The other three are water resources and agriculture experts. In addition, only engineers now head each of the Engineering Departments in all the River Basin Authorities. Agricultural Extension Services have also been restored. Furthermore, about 53,000 Ha of unutilized land owned by the RBDAs have been leased to commercial farmers in the last 18 months. Many of our dams have also been leased out for commercial fish farming within the same period.

The RBDAs are now better positioned to deliver their mandate. Their effectiveness will be annually measured by three (3) key performance indicators(KPIs), namely:

i. The amount of additional hectarage of land they are able to bring into cultivation

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ii. Efficiency of extension services provided; and iii. Agricultural product output.

All RBDAs are also now required to prepare a 4 year specific Action Plan to guide their operations and budgetary preparations. In addition, we are working on re-equipping them with earth moving machinery and equipment to enhance their operations. The RBDAs have also from 2017 commenced implementation of the Songhai Model, which we hope to replicate in each of the 109 Senatorial Districts of the Federation in the years ahead. The Graduate /Youth Farmers Empowerment Programme which aims at engaging carefully selected participants in batches of 50 to be trained in various agricultural activities, was launched in 2016 and has now been merged with the Songhai Model programme .

The RBDAs are also undergoing structural reforms towards partial and eventual full commercialization of their operations. The National Council on Privatization (NPC) has approved the appointment of a Transaction Adviser to guide the process. We envisage commencement of their partial commercialization by 2019.

3.6 Project Prioritization and CompletionThis Administration inherited 116 Nos. major on – going and abandoned Projects on assumption of office in 2015, as follows:

Irrigation & Drainage - 38 Nos. Dams - 37 Nos. Water Supply - 41 Nos.

Early in 2016, we undertook a Technical Audit and prioritized all the 116 uncompleted and abandoned projects. We are now deploying most of our resources towards completing and commissioning all the high and medium priority projects from 2016 – 2020. Projects that we have ascertained as non viable have been dropped completely. Thus far, we have completed and commissioned the following Projects:

Central Ogbia Regional Water Project, Bayelsa State Northern Ishan Regional Water Supply Project, Edo State Rehabilitation of Ojirami Dam Water Supply Project, Edo State Sabke Water Supply Project, Katsina State Dutsi Water Supply Project, Katsina State Mashi Water Supply Project, Katsina State Takum Water Supply Project, Taraba State Sabke Irrigation Project, Katsina State

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Rehabilitation of Kargo Dam, Jaji, Kaduna State

The following five (5) projects have also been completed and are ready for commissioning:

i Kashimbila Dam, Taraba Stateii. Ogwashi – Uku Dam, Delta Stateiii. Shagari Irrigation Project, Sokoto Stateiv. Galma Dam, Kaduna State.v. Ekeremor Water Supply Project, Edo State

Our plan is to complete many more water supply, dam and irrigation projects between 2018 and 2020, including the following:

Water Supply Projectsi. Inyishi Water Supply Project, Imo Stateii. Zobe Water Supply Project, Katsina Stateiii. Mangu Water Supply Project, Plateau Stateiv. Ivo Water Project, Enugu Statev. Federal University of Agriculture, Markudi Water Supply

Project, Benue Statevi. Rehabilitation and Reticulation of Fugar Water Works, Edo

Statevii. Dukku Regional Water Supply Project, Gombe Stateviii. Ilesha Water Supply Project, Osun Stateix. Kazaure Water Supply Project, Jigawa Statex. Ahmadu Bello University Water Supply Project, Kaduna

State.

Dam & Irrigation Projectsi. Middle Ogun Irrigation Project, Oyo Stateii. Middle Rima Valley Irrigation Project, Sokoto Stateiii. Gari Irrigation Project, Kano/Jigawa Statesiv. Kontagora Auna Dam Project, Niger Statev. Bagwai Irrigation Project, Kano Statevi. Tada Shonga Irrigation Project, Kwara Statevii. Adani Rice Irrigation Project, Anambra Stateviii. Ekuku Dam Project, Kogi Stateix. Lower Anambra Irrigation Project, Anambra Statex. Ile – Ife Dam Project, Osun Statexi. Zauro Polder Irrigation Project, Kebbi Statexii. Otukpo Multipurpose Dam Project, Benue State

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We are committed to completing all on-going viable projects in the Ministry to derive optimum benefits from Government’s investments. It is instructive to note that since the inception of this Administration, my Ministry has initiated only two (2) new major projects. This underscores our emphasis on completion of the numerous on – going and abandoned projects we inherited.

3.7 HydropowerThe National Water Resources Masterplan has identified that Nigeria has a Hydro Power potential of 12,220 MW. Only about 1,930 MW of this potential has been developed at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro Dams. We are currently making progress for the concessioning of 30 MW Gurara Hydropower plant which is planned to come into full operations soon. We are also progressing on our collaboration with FMPWH to concession the 40 MW Kashimbilla Hydropower plant, recently completed. However, both concessions are being delayed due to non-completion of the transmission lines that will evacuate the power by Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and FMP#WH. In addition, we are in advanced discussions with potential investors for other hydropower projects including Gurara II (350 MW), Lokoja (750 MW) and Dasin Hausa (150 MW), among others.

The inherited practice whereby hydropower projects were split between the Ministry of Water Resources and Ministry of Power with the latter executing the transmission contracts separately has been the reason we have failed to concession our power plants in a timely manner. Going forward, the Ministry of Water Resources seeks to execute its hydropower projects in a wholistic manner with a construction programme and funding regime that we can control.

3.8 Efforts to Save Lake Chad and other Transboundary Water ActivitiesLake Chad was once considered to be the sixth largest lake in the World with a surface area of more than 25,000km2. Unfortunately, because of Climate Change, the Lake has now shrunk by more than 90% of its size to less than 2,000Km2. The attendant land degradation, deforestation, rapid population growth and other socio – economic developments have endangered the lives of over 40 million people who depend on the Lake for their livelihood.

Under the Buhari Administration, the Lake Chad environmental challenges have been brought to the attention of the international community as major causes of the security crisis in North – Eastern Nigeria. The Ministry has championed the signing of an MOU between

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the Lake Chad Basin Commission and a Chinese company that is presently undertaking further feasibility study on the proposed Inter Basin Water Transfer Project from the Congo Basin into Lake Chad. Furthermore, an International Conference on the Lake Chad was held in Abuja from 26th – 28th February 2018 in collaboration with Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and UNESCO. The Conference which was attended by five Heads of States and Government including President Muhammadu Buhari, International and Local experts, Diplomats, Financial Partners, Donor Organizations and other stakeholders was very successful. A consensus was achieved on the need to restore the Lake through a proposed Inter Basin Water Transfer (IBWT) Project from the Congo Basin to Lake Chad.

The Conference climaxed with a proclamation of “The Abuja Declaration” signed by the Heads of State and Government of the LCBC. A Roadmap on “Saving the Lake Chad to Revitalize the Basin’s Ecosystem for Sustainable Development” was developed at the end of the Conference and thereafter an “Action Plan” was prepared by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

In addition, the Ministry has completed the engineering design and is set to commence procurement in 2018 of the Hawal Inter – Basin Transfer from River Ngagda. Phase I of the Project is to augment water supply to Alau Dam so as to provide a more sustainable source of water supply to Maiduguri and environs. Phase 2 of the Project aims to resuscitate the 60,000 Ha South Chad Irrigation Scheme, which became moribund following continuous drying up of Lake Chad over the years, by diverting some of the water from Hawal to South Chad through canals and tunnels. It needs to be emphasized that this project is proposed in the Water Resources Masterplan.

The Hadejia – Komadugu – Yobe Trust Fund (with Kano, Jigawa, Borno, Yobe, Bauchi and Plateau States as members) was recently reactivated and a new Governing Board inaugurated, following years of inactivity, to address the water and environmental challenges affecting the Basin. Various financing options are being worked out to support the Fund’s activities by the member States and the Federal Government.

Regarding Transboundary Rivers, we have intensified our collaboration with other riparian countries to ensure that the interest of our country is not jeopardized through action or inaction of other stakeholders. To this end, we are effectively participating in the activities of transboundary organizations, especially Niger Basin Authority (NBA)

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and Lake Chad Basin Commission (LBCB). We are also enhancing our trans – boundary cooperation on water security through Nigeria – Cameroon Joint Commission (NCJC) and Nigeria – Niger Joint Commission (NNJC). We have executed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cameroon in 2016 and developed a stronger information sharing framework for water releases from Lagdo Dam, to avoid the flood disaster experienced in 2012.

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4 FUTURE PLANS FOR THE SECTOR

Our plan for the Water Sector is naturally to build on the achievements made in the last two and half years. In this regard therefore, we shall pursue the following agenda as contained in our Roadmap:

i. Pursue final passage of the National Water Resources Bill into law and ensure its implementation along with all other approved policies in the sector by all stakeholders to engender best practice in Nigeria’s water Governance.

ii. Continue with the implementation of ongoing projects as planned and reprioritize as resources permit, with the aim of efficient delivery of the projects to ensure value for money and safeguard Government investments. We will also ensure that future projects are only embarked in accordance with the provisions of the Water Resources Masterplan and after proper engineering designs and adequate project preparation.

iii. Pursue vigorously, the Action Plan on Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) as approved by the Federal Executive Council and the PEWASH programme, to attain the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Access to Water Supply and Sanitation for all by Year 2030.

iv. Implement the National Irrigation Development Programme of attaining additional 500,000 Ha by 2030 and facilitate development of additional 1,000,000 Ha by the private sector and State Governments. We hope to deliver 42,000 Ha in 2018 and 41,000 ha in 2019.

v. Continue with reforms of the River Basin Development Authorities and ensure the implementation of their respective action plans so that they deliver on their mandate to boost agricultural production in the country and achieve integrated rural development.

vi. Continue our collaboration with the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) in pursuing efforts to save Lake Chad from extinction, thereby averting attendant ecological challenges and protecting the livelihood of over 40 million people who depend on it. We will also continue to collaborate with other riparian countries to ensure that Nigeria’s interests are not jeopardized.

vii. Conclude the organizational reforms of the Ministry to strengthen it for effective service delivery.

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viii. Become more proactive and responsive to environmental challenges of degradation, deforestation, climate change etc. as it relates to water resources management in Nigeria.

Additional strategies that have been adopted to enhance the sector and ensure efficient use of current and future investments include the following:

i. Adoption of renewable energy (solar) to power Water Supply and Irrigation facilities.

ii. Adoption of drip irrigation to enhance water conservation and efficient irrigation practice.

iii. Promotion of Public Private Partnership (PPP) as an effective approach to increased investment in the sector and better service delivery.

iv. Addressing the yet to be attended to challenges of waste water management and water conservation in general.

5 CONCLUSION

Nigeria is blessed with abundant water resources. However, the sustainability is threatened by land degradation, deforestation, rapid population growth, poor sectoral investment, as well as climate change. All of these have placed pressure on water resources systems of our country. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) predicts that Nigeria may become water stressed between the year 2025 and 2050, that water availability would severely constrain socio-economic development and environmental protection as it reduces to less than 1000m3 per capita, if the current population growth persists. It is therefore compelling that we manage our water resources scientifically and professionally in tandem with international best practices. This therefore explains the intervention we are currently undertaking in the sector.

President of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Fellows of the Academy of Engineering, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, this presentation describes what we met in the Water Resources Sector on assumption of office in November 2015 and our efforts in the last two and half years to strengthen and reposition it to better manage our nature – endowed resource. I have also indicated some of our future plans for the Water Sector. What we have developed is a 15-year plan of action that we hope future Administrations will key into and faithfully implement, even after us. If this is achieved, the Water Sector will be on course to effectively meet the socio-economic aspirations of

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the Nation. To this end we have, for the first time in the history of the Ministry, inaugurated a Ministerial Policy Advisory Committee (MPAC) made up of experts in water resources, to generally advice the Minister on policy and transboundary issues, and in particular to monitor implementation of the Water Resources Masterplan and the Roadmap. It is my hope that this Committee of experts will be wholeheartedly embraced by my successors to ensure faithful and sustainable implementation of the Strategies we have put in place for the Sector.

May I assure you that the Ministry of Water Resources, as custodian of this most important national resource of our country, will under our watch, continue to ensure that the resource is protected, used, developed, conserved, managed and controlled for the collective benefits of all Nigerians.

I thank the Nigerian Academy of Engineering for this unique opportunity of delivering the 2018 Academy Lecture and also appreciate you all for your attention.

Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, FNSEHonourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Water Resources

21 st June, 2018

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