Flooding: No Agreement With Cameroon On Dam Construction, Says FG

*Disagrees With Senate
Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, has debunked widespread speculations that the release of water from the Lagdo Dam in the Republic of Cameroon has been responsible for the massive flood currently ravaging many communities in Nigeria.
Adamu, who gave his opinion during a budget defence session with the Senate Committee on Water Resources on Wednesday, said that the flood was due to heavy rainfall and the over flow of water from the Katsina Ala River and other tributaries into River Benue.
The explanation followed a sharp disagreement which erupted when Senator Adamu Aliero (PDP, Kebbi Central), raised the issue of floods in the country during the budget defence session and sought to know what efforts the Ministry of Water Resources was making to ameliorate the impact of the disaster.
The minister argued that the common belief among Nigerians that the annual flood was caused by the opening of a dam in Cameroon was wrong. Adamu said it was also not true that the Cameroonian government usually informs the government of Nigeria before opening their dam and emptying its water into River Benue. According to him, it was only recently and after a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed that such protocols took effect.
“There have been insinuations that every year the Cameroonian authorities inform us when they are releasing the water; that is not true. It took a lot of effort from us to get an MoU for them to be informing Nigeria about releases. That was done when President Paul Biya came here on a state visit in 2016. They have been attempting since 2012, but it wasn’t done.
“Even this one, they are the ones who should keep us informed about the level of the water, but they didn’t. They informed us 24 hours after,” he said.
When the lawmakers demanded to know what happened to the proposed Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State, which was meant to mitigate the effects of water released from Lagdo Dam, the minister said that the project was still on the drawing board.
Adamu however, disclosed that even if the dam was built, it would not be of much help since, according to him, the water released from Lagdo Dam contributes only about one percent (1% ) to the flood challenge in Nigeria.
The post Flooding: No Agreement With Cameroon On Dam Construction, Says FG appeared first on Barristers.NG.

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