A 3-year appraisal of the water sector

According to Ochekpe, the completion of the review and update of the 1995 National Water Resources  Master Plan in November, 2013, by the ministry  in conjunction with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) revealed  that  the nation’s water resources have been recharged to the tune of 440 billion cubic metres, consisting of surface water potential estimated at 340 billion cubic metres and ground water potential estimated at 100 billion cubic metres, as against the previous estimates of 267 billion cubic meters for surface water and 92 billion for groundwater.
She noted that within the years under review, the ministry engaged in the construction, operation and maintenance of dams nationwide to impound raw water for potable water supply, hydropower, irrigation, fishery development, flood control, tourism and recreation.
“The ministry, in the last four years completed 37 dams of various sizes, rehabilitated 10 dams, while the construction works on 149 dams of various capacities are ongoing across the country.
“When the construction works of all the dams are completed the water impoundment in the nation’s dams will be increased by 3.6 billion cubic meters,” she added.
She said that out of the 37 completed dams, 16 have hydropower potentials capable of generating 135.15 megawatts of electricity.
“Some existing dams, including the breached Goronyo Dam emergency spillway in Sokoto, Alau Dam in Borno, Tiga and Challawa Gorge dams in Kano, Hadejia Barrage in Hadejia as well as other dams in many states have been rehabilitated for more optimal operation, she said.
The Kashimbilla Dam, intended to attenuate flood from the imminent collapse of Lake Nyos upstream in Cameroon, has recorded 87 per cent completion status while the procurement works on the proposed Dasin Hausa Dam that would address the issue of flooding as a result of uncontrolled release of water from Lagdo Dam in Cameroon is currently under review, she said.
On the irrigation component of the various dams, Ochekpe said the ministry viewed irrigation as key to the attainment of food security due to the fact that it has the potential of increasing agricultural productivity by as much as tenfold. “Irrigation is also important for employment generation and poverty alleviation in rural areas.”
“Since 2010, a total of 385 formal and informal irrigation projects of varying sizes have been embarked upon. Of this, 179 new irrigation schemes have been completed, 21 existing irrigation projects were rehabilitated while 185 new projects are on-going in several states across the country.
“All these projects when completed will provide a total of 397,060Ha of irrigable land. A total of 118,064Ha was cultivated in the last four years, representing 30 per cent land cultivation. The irrigable land under cultivation is being managed by 1,416,768 farming families at 12 members of a family per hectare of land,” she also said.
“The ministry, through these irrigation facilities under the RBDAs, supported the nation’s food security programme with 3,013,296 metric tonnes of assorted food and cash crops valued at over N45 billion,” she noted.
The minister said that primary responsibility for the provision of municipal and domestic water supply is that of the state and local governments. However, the federal government had to intervene to increase access in order to meet the MDGs.
“Before the inception of this administration, access to potable water was 58 per cent. Access is now 67 per cent, while sanitation moved from 32 per cent to 41 per cent under the recent national assessment. This has been made possible through the efforts of the three tiers of government and development partners.
As part of the federal government’s intervention efforts, the ministry provided a total of 4,940 water supply facilities nationwide from 2010 to date. Out of this number, 4,099 newly constructed, mostly rural water facilities, and 143 rehabilitated facilities have been completed nationwide while works on 698 water supply projects are  currently ongoing in many states.
The total installed capacities of the completed water facilities amounts to 1.9 million cubic meters per day which is capable of meeting the water demand of about 30 million people, especially those living in the rural areas and small towns,” she said.
The ministry through the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, periodically releases flow forecasts along the rivers Niger and Benue system as a follow up to the annual flood outlook for the nation. These have also helped in constantly alerting the nation to ensure efficient preparedness for possible flood prevention or mitigation. Below are some peak flows of the hydrological stations along the rivers Niger and Benue from year 2012, being the 50-year return period of flood experience in the country, to 2014.
As the ministry celebrates its achievements, it is important to note that more should be done to address the upsurge of broken down boreholes that litter rural areas across the country and more importantly that the promise of Mr President that no child will trek kilometres to fetch water before going to school is far from being met.