Professor Emmanuel Adanu is the Director General of the National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna. Adanu, a former international footballer, who is serving a second term, speaks to Stanley Nkwazema on the activities of the institute and the support from the water resources ministry, among other issues
How would you assess the performance of the National Water Resources Institute under your watch?
I have been there since May 2015. At the expiration of my first tenure, the President through the recommendation of the Water Resources Minister, Engr. Sulaiman Adamu, graciously renewed it for another term of five years, which technically elapses in 2025, God willing. Before I went there, I had been very familiar with the institute because it is an agency of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and I had been with the Water Resources Ministry.
The institute started as a project office in 1979 and by 1985, under an Act, it was made an institute by the then Military Government to carry out training for middle cadre and water resources managers and also to carry out researches in all aspects of water resources management and to advise the government on priorities with some other functions like conferences, publication of reports both local and international and many other water resources duties. When I went there, I noticed that these aspects of the mandate given to them were not properly highlighted. We have collaborations with some universities. We award degrees on behalf of Nigeria Defense Academy (NDA) Kaduna in Integrated Water Resources Management, approved by the National Universities Commission (NUC). The institute developed the curriculum. We also have a network programme under the World Bank. We have six universities in the six geo-political zones and they offer beyond first and second degrees in Water Resources sponsored by the institute.
What have been your experience in the water sector and the dams in Nigeria in terms of prioritisation of projects?
Basically, I will talk about the development and satisfaction of the various needs and I must tell you that Nigeria has lesser dams. People may say we have too many, but we are still lagging behind in terms of dams. I can tell you that we have about 400 dams in the country from the last dam inventory we carried out. The United States of America has about 8,000 or more dams. You can imagine that we still do not have enough dams, which is because of the per capita requirement of water. In that case, one would say that we do not have enough dams, and wherever you site dams now, we are yet to meet the numbers required. This explains to you the questions of whether the projects are politically motivated.
In our development, there is this impression that the Southern part of the country has a lot of water and they don’t need dams, and the Northern part, which is larger, should have more dams. So, dams are cited where such requirements are expected. We have dams in the North for agricultural purposes because of certain level of dryness. The condition for the construction of dams, that is, the natural environment for it is more in the Middle Belt and the North than in the South. There are bigger dams in the North and middle part of the country hence the location.
As time goes on, we need dams in small environments that are sustainable, especially in the South where you will find small reservoir areas. The rains are perennial and if you put a dam there, it is going to serve the purpose very well and we considered that in siting some dams in the South. The dams are not so big because you must take into consideration the rising level and issue of flooding. If you take a holistic look at dams siting, you will discover that we are far short of dams. There are also the misinterpreted challenges in the ministry that sometimes we intend to provide the facilities on a master plan and the cross-sectoral demand from people or the society. As a professional, you know there is the need for it but funding is a problem because dams are very expensive. It is a challenge but it is not that government is not aware of the importance of dams, rather there is a cross-sectoral competing demand for the same money.
At what time did you join the Water Resources Ministry?
Yes, it was when I began to feel a bit uncomfortable at what was happening then at the University. I was a water person trained abroad. There was an advert by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in 1991. I just decided to try my luck and I was taken. I started there as a Chief Planning Officer. Within this period, I was growing in the ministry, I had a small break during the Gen. Sani Abacha regime. I was made the Principal Private Secretary to then Governor of Benue State, Col. Aminu Isah Kontagora who passed on recently. When there was a minor reshuffle by Abacha, he was moved to Kano and was replaced by Brigadier General Dominic Oneya, who incidentally passed on recently also. I still remained as his PPS. After the election of 1999, we handed over and I came back to the ministry where I grew to become the Director of Dams and I retired in 2014.
Are you satisfied with the attention government has given to the Water Resources Institute?
I am satisfied with the attention we are getting from the government. I went there just as former President Jonathan’s administration was winding down. We have had no problem with this administration, to be sincere with you. Incidentally, the institute hosts Category 2 United Nations Centre for Integrated River Basin Management, which is under the auspices of UNESCO and we are covering the West African countries. We organise programmes across the West African sub-region. We have much research works ongoing presently and I am even constructing the headquarters now.
What was your growing up like?
I am from a very poor family in terms of resources but not poor in ideas. We are agrarian farmers but a very respectable family and highly disciplined parents. We grew up with discipline and responsibility. I never regretted having them as parents because the ideas they had were so productive that we did not need money. Sorry to tell you that we were trained never to borrow. Those were the things that were basically motivating us and I think that is how I have trained my four kids; three girls and a boy. Two of the girls are married. My son is not married. I am a grandfather of five children. My wife is a nurse and retired Public Administrator.
We learn you played for Nigeria’s national team. How did you combine football with academics?
Before moving to Germany and playing for the ABU Workers Football Club, right from secondary school, I was into football. In the North-east and the entire North, they know me as a great footballer. I was invited to the national team three times as early as 1976 and I made the final list on two occasions as a striker. I was invited to the NUGA games in Ibadan at the same time with Adokiye Amiesimaka. I was invited again in 1979 during the Oluyole 79 Festival and in 1981. However, when I went to Germany, incidentally, I played for the second division called the Landelsliga with a team called Blauweis 90, founded in 1890 in Berlin. After two years, I moved to play for Tennis Borussia a semi-professional side. It was easier to play there than here because all the facilities are available.
Tell us the story of the footballer that turned to a hydrogeologist?
I am from a small village in Odigbo, Apa Local Government Area of Benue State. I’m Idoma by tribe. My secondary education was in Numan, in the present Adamawa State between 1967 and 1971. From there I went to the Government Secondary School Maiduguri for my Higher School Certificate (HSC). I proceeded to Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and graduated in 1977. Specialising in Geology, which though was not my initial area, I wanted to study Engineering. After my NYSC in Ondo State, I returned to the Geology Department of ABU as Graduate Assistant. After my Master’s, I had to go to Germany for my Ph.D. at the Technische Universitat, Berlin, where I majored in Hydrogeology. I returned to Ahmadu Bello University, because I went under the sponsorship of the university, and continued my lectureship career.
Looking back at your career, are you satisfied?
I think I got what I wanted. In terms of experience, fortunately, I have gone through a lot. It is a process, societal processes, professional processes, and political processes. Not intentional anyway. When I was Principal Private Secretary, I was like the number two man in the state because they didn’t have deputy governors. I report to the governor and I’m answerable only to him, which is the political aspect I am talking about. In the ministry, I became a Director, starting with Alhaji Hashidu and six others, till the present Minister, Sulaiman Adamu who is the District Head and Galadiman of Kazaure.
What legacies would you want to leave behind at the National Water Resources Institute?
I would want to leave the place as a foremost training and research institution comparable to anyone anywhere in the world and we are working towards that. Fortunately, I have a contingent of staff I think are ready to work and I have to motivate them. One other thing I do is to make sure that any mistake by any staff of yours is accepted as a general mistake. We work and see how we can become better. We don’t like accusing anybody because all of us are learning. When mistakes are made, we look at the mistakes; try to correct and we work collectively to avoid such mistakes by anybody.
