Nathaniel Zacchaeus, Abuja
The Federal Government has said that the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon was not responsible for the flooding
that is currently ravaging many parts of the country.
The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu stated this while defending his ministry’s 2023 budget before the Senate Committee on Water Resources.
He said most of the water that caused flooding was not from the Lagbo Dam. Adamu explained that the contribution from the dam to Nigeria was only one percent.
He said, “The dam releases water; some- times it releases water without notice and when they do that, it has an impact on com- munities downstream. It is not the main reason you have a 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 freshwater that Lagdo dam not responsible for flooding, FG explains flows into the country.
“Eighty per cent of the flood is the water we are blessed with from the sky falling on Mambila and Jos Plateau. Most of this flow is from Nigeria,” he said.
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Speaking further, the minister said that the Federal Government was not in- formed by the Cameroonian Government on the annual release of water from the Lagdo Dam.
He said, “It took a lot of effort from us for them to sign an MoU for them to be informing Nigeria about releases. It wassigned in 2016. Since then, every year, when the flood season comes it is the Nige- ria 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 that “whether we can do the dam or not, we will continue to have flooded Rivers Niger and Benue Basins.
He said, “There was a consultant that had been appointed by the previous administra- tion to work on this dam. When I came into the 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 detailed feasibility and engineering design. I disengaged the consultant in 2016. It was one of the 116 projects that we had.
“In-out roadmap, we made a decision that going forward we have enough dams, 37 ongoings. We cannot take any new dam, let’s complete what is ongoing.
“We appointed a consultant to do the re- quired diligent feasibility study and engi- neering 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.
