The Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) has been bolstered to coordinate the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting Boko Haram terrorists along the border towns of neighbouring countries. In an interview with journalists in N’Djamena, Chad Republic, the Executive Secretary of the LCBC, Maman Nuhu, recounts stabilisation plans to restore peace in the region.
Daily Trust: The meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) was held recently, what were the main decisions taken?
Maman Nuhu: The most important issue that was discussed and approved was the 2019 budget of the LCBC. It was approved in total the way we recommended. The total sum of 17,668,906 francs was approved as our 2019 budget.
The development part of it is 15,352,564 francs, the running cost or recurrent budget is 1,775,25 francs.
Other approvals were made for other administrative issues. We have just gone through a reform process in LCBC after about one year of implementation of the reforms. We have discovered some gaps and areas that have not been properly covered.
We made a case for readjustment and the council graciously approved, so we are going to do a bit of readjustment.
DT: Where is the bulk of the funding coming from?
Nuhu: The funding for LCBC is done in two ways: contribution by member states and funds coming from our development partners. Nigeria contributes the bulk of the annual budget; 40 per cent, Cameroon contributes 20 per cent, Libya contributes 18 per cent (although they are having problems now, so they pay in arrears), Chad contributes 11 per cent, Niger seven per cent and the Central African Republic (CAR) four per cent.
DT: What are your major challenges at the commission?
Nuhu: The major challenge of course is funding. We have a lot of good ideas that we will love to implement, but unfortunately, funding has not been forth coming. In terms of contribution, most member states are in arrears of payment. So this is the main challenge.
The other challenge is capacity. We have a lot of development projects, but we lack the capacity to execute them. However, we are addressing those problems through our partners. The reform I was talking to you about is intended to address the capacity gap that we have identified.
DT: What is the core mandate of the commission?
Nuhu: The first mandate of the commission is to manage the waters of Lake Chad and other trans-boundary water resources of the basin in an equitable way.
The second mandate is to manage the ecosystem of the Lake Chad Basin, especially the conventional side of the basin. The basin is very wide; there is a topographical basin which is about 2.3 million square kilometres, then there is the conventional basin which is subject of the agreement that was signed between member states. That one is about 967 thousand square kilometres.
The one that we are actively engaged with in terms of management of the ecosystem is the conventional basin.
The third mandate is promoting regional integration, peace and security. It is because of the third mandate that the leaders decided to attach the Multinational Joint Task Force to the Lake Chad Basin Commission to enable it achieve the promotion of peace and security in the region.
DT: Does the funding challenge of the commission affect the performance of the MNJTF?
Nuhu: Yes, like in the case of the LCBC, there are lots of things that we want to do, a lot of equipment that we will love to acquire, but funding is a challenge. We have gotten some assistance from partners in terms of non-lethal equipment.
The partners are the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom (UK) and Turkey; they are so many. I avoid listing them because when you make a list you are likely to make omissions; which is not good, but we are receiving assistance from partners, including the African Union (AU).
DT: The message we are getting is that because of lack of contribution, some of the troops are not available to contribute to the counter insurgency. Does the money go directly to the troops or is coordinated here?
Nuhu: It is coordinated here. I’m also the head of mission of the MNJTF, and because of that, all the funding comes to the LCBC, then we have an approved formula for carrying out the operations.
DT: Because of the decreasing water level of the lake, LCBC is planning to transfer water from the Congo River, what is the status of this project?
Nuhu: We have covered some distance in that regard. The issue has been on the chart for about 40 years. Sometimes the tempo would go down, at another time it would go up.
Thanks to the current Chairman of the Summit of Heads of State of the LCBC, President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria, the issue has gained momentum again; we are on it.
President Buhari has done a lot of advocacy all over the world for the inter-basin water transfer, and because of his advocacy, China came in to pledge $1.5m to assist in carrying out the feasibility of the area. The Government of Italy also contributed. We have sent an agreement to the Government of Italy for the release of 1.8m Euros that they promised.
Power China of China and Bonifica of Italy will jointly carry out the phase two of the feasibility study.
The phase one was carried out by a Canadian company, Seama, they submitted the report, which has some lapses.
DT: How feasible is the inter-basin water transfer project with the level of insecurity in the region?
Nuhu: We are hoping that the insecurity in the region will be sorted out very soon; we are making a lot of progress in that regard.
The inter-basin water transfer is not about to take place immediately. There is a long way to go. We are still at the level of feasibility study.
After feasibility study, if we are all satisfied, there would be the issues of technical drawings, funding and preliminary assessment of how much it is going to cost.
DT: How is LCBC working to address the issue of resettling displaced persons from border communities affected by the insurgency?
Nuhu: We have established a regional stabilisation strategy with all the affected countries. They came together, along with international partners, and crafted a strategy on how to handle displaced persons.
Each country has its policy on how to handle displaced persons. Nigeria has gone very far in terms of handling displaced persons and delivery of humanitarian assistance.
However, there is need for synergy, for all the countries to come together and have a common strategy which will help to address the situation.
We came up with the Regional Stabilisation Strategy which was presented to the council of the ministers of the LCBC in Abuja on August 30, 2018. It was validated and thereafter we did a lot of advocacy to get the buy-in of member countries and the international community. A few days after the adoption in Abuja, I went to Berlin, Germany, and addressed a high level conference on the strategy. I have also presented it for adoption at the African Union Peace and Security Council. They adopted it in December, 2018.
People are not really aware that the Regional Stabilisation Strategy is there, not to talk of getting their buy-in. We are going to all the member countries to get the buy-in of stakeholders.
The strategy has nine pillars, and these pillars address all aspects of humanitarian and a bit of development issues that usually arise in situations like this. Governance is the first one, and that addresses concerns about areas in the border communities where state authority is not very visible.
Part of the strategic objective of that pillar is to assist in the restoration of state authority, assist the police to go back, assist the local government and assist the local chief to settle down.
The issues of economy, education, gender are all fully addressed in the strategy. It addresses all areas of concern and is enjoying wide support.
A steering committee would oversee all aspects of implementing the strategy, with a secretariat in Chad, also to service the Lake Chad Basin Governors Forum (LCBGF). The governors are expected to produce territorial action plans based on the nine pillars of the strategy.
It has a five-year life span that can be adjusted as recommended by the steering committee.
DT: Is there a way countries that don’t remit their contribution to the commission can be forced to pay?
Nuhu: One of the decisions taken is that the Chairman of the Summit of Heads of State, President Muhammadu Buhari, will write letters to other leaders appealing to them to make their payments as quickly as possible. We hope that will ginger them to action.
As I said, most of the funding for the MNJTF comes from Nigeria. Initially, the president provided $100m for the takeoff of the MNJTF.
Subsequently, additional funding was received from Nigeria to enable us prosecute the war. So we are immensely appreciative of that gesture from Nigeria. Other countries have contributed troops. Their contribution comes in that form, they maintain them and when we come for special operations, that is where the funding provided by Nigeria, which is domiciled with us at the LCBC, is utilised.
