Sunday Aborisade in Abuja
The federal government has said that the Lagbo Dam in Cameroon is not responsible for the flooding that is currently ravaging many parts of the country.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, stated this while defending the 2023 budget of his ministry before the Senate Committee on Water Resources on Wednesday.
He said most of the water that caused flooding was not from the Lagbo Dam, adding that the contribution from the dam to Nigeria was only one per cent.
According to him, “The dam releases water; sometimes it releases water without notice and when they do that, it has impact on communities downstream.
“It is not the main reason you have flood in this country.
“The tributaries of River Benue are the main cause. And this year, the rains have been unprecedented.
“The transboundary waters that even come into this country from Rivers Niger and Benue constitute only 20 per cent of the fresh water that flows into the country.
“Eighty per cent of the flood is water we are blessed with from the sky falling on Mambila and Jos Plateau. Most of this flow is from Nigeria.”
Speaking further, the minister said that the federal government was not informed by the Cameroonian Government on the annual release of water from Lagbo Dam.
He said: “It took a lot of effort for us and them to sign an MoU for them to be informing Nigeria about releases.
“It was signed in 2016. Since then, every year, when the flood season comes, it is the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency that calls them to know their level of water.
“We cannot blame the flood this year on Cameroon. We can only blame them for violating the terms of the MoU.”
Adamu further said that the government would call for a review of the MoU to abate the flood.
On the Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa which could serve as a solution to flooding, Adamu said: “Whether we are able to do the dam or not, we will continue to have floods on the Rivers Niger and Benue Basins.
“There was a consultant that had been appointed by the previous administration to work on this dam.
“When I came into office, I checked the scope of work and the terms of reference. I was not satisfied that justice will be done to that design.
“You cannot build a dam as important and strategic as Dasin Hausa on River Benue without a detailed feasibility and engineering design.
“I disengaged the consultant in 2016. It was one of the 116 projects that we had.
“In our roadmap, we made a decision that going forward, we have enough dams, 37 ongoing. We cannot take any new dam, let’s complete what is ongoing.
“We appointed a consultant to do the required diligent feasibility study and engineering design for the project.”
He expressed optimism that by March 2023, the dam would be completed.
Earlier, the Chairman of the Committee, Senator Bello Mandiya, urged the ministry to find a lasting solution to flooding.
