The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, says the proposed Inter-Basin Water Transfer from the Congo River into Lake Chad is possible but expensive.

Mr Adamu said this at a media forum in Abuja. He said the effects of climate change had largely impacted massive interventions ongoing in the basin.

No fewer than 40 million people depend on the natural resources of Lake Chad.

The minister hinted that Nigeria was working to improve the hydraulicity of River Chari and Logone through dredging and improvement of the river banks. He noted that this was crucial as environmental challenges like silting and new flood plains due to climate change were affecting the lake.

“The inter-basin water transfer is supposed to traverse many countries. We are taking water from the Congo Basin and transferring it to another 400km into Chad. It is technically feasible,” Mr Adamu further stated. “But it is very expensive. It requires a lot of study and we are going to be using the existing rivers, so it requires a lot of planning. But what we are doing is to start with the low-hanging fruit.”

In addition to climate change, “even when you have good rain, the water just flows into the banks and creates new floodplains rather than flow directly into the lake,” Mr Adamu noted.

“So it’s a lot of technical issues to deal with before you finally talk about the money,” the minister stated. “And the money, of course, it’s a lot of billions of dollars. One of the good things is that it has been taken as a Pan-African project, but even at African Union, they are now talking about it seriously.’’

Speaking on the ministry’s dam projects, Mr Adamu said the River Basin Development Authorities were being revitalised to deliver on their mandates.

He disclosed that the Songhai model, as an integrated agricultural practice, was introduced to boost agricultural production and achieve integrated rural development.

(NAN)