Water projects in Northeast will address joblessness – Minister

Ochekpe made the observation when the Presidential Committee charged with the responsibilities of addressing the socio-economic and educational challenges as a result of insurgency in the Northeast paid her a courtesy call.
The committee was set up primarily to look for ways of reviving the economic status of the Northeast geo political zone.
She disclosed that the ministry of water resources has many projects in the Northeast which if fully developed and put to use would turn around the fortune of the entire zone.
She said: “We have projects  like South Chad Irrigation Project in Borno, we have several water supply schemes in Yobe, we have the Dadin Kowa Dam and irrigation projects in Gombe State, we also have Chouchi Irrigation Project and Jada Dam in Adamawa State. We also have a number of irrigation projects in Taraba State one of which is being used by Dominion Farms, and we are presently constructing  Kashimbila Multipurpose Dam which has  capacity for 500,million cubic litres of water, 2,000 hectares of irrigable land and 40 megawatts  of electricity in Taraba State and this multipurpose dam will be completed by the end of 2014.   
“We believe that if all these projects are completed and put to use there would be no issue of unemployment in the region and we also believe that the health challenges associated with waterborne diseases would be properly addressed.”
Ochekpe said that some of the dams would provide electricity for industrial development, adding: “The projects are at various levels of completion, some of the projects have not been properly funded over the years and that is why we are willing to partner with you to complete and put the projects to use. We solicit that in identifying the projects, priority should be given to projects that have high impact on the people. It will be more economical to continue with the projects that have already been started by the ministry than starting new water projects.”
Earlier, the chairman of the committee Prof. Soji Adelaja,  had said that the purpose of their visit was to partner with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to identify some projects in the water sector within the North-east and jointly work on them with the view to improving the economic and social status of the region.