The Federal Government on Wednesday, said the Lagbo Dam in Cameroon was not responsible for the natural disaster currently ravaging many parts of the country, contrary to the widely held insinuation.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu stated this while defending the 2023 budget of his ministry before the Senate Committee on Water Resources.
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Also, as residents of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State continue to groan over the rampaging flooding of their houses and businesses, more woes have come their way in the form of the escalating prices of food items, commodities, transportation and other products
According to Adamu, most of the water that caused flooding was not from the Lagbo Dam. He explained that the contribution from the dam to Nigeria was only one per cent.
He said;
The dam releases water; sometimes it releases water without notice and when they do that, it impacts on communities downstream. It is not the main reason you have 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 fresh water that flows into the country.
Eighty per cent of the flood is water we are blessed with from the sky falling on Mambila and Jos Plateau. Most of this flow is from Nigeria.
The federal government was not informed by the Cameroonian Government on the annual release of water from Lagbo 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 was signed in 2016. Since then, every year, when the flood season comes it is the Nigeria 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 the government would call for a review of the MoU to abate the flood.
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On the Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa which could serve as a solution to flooding, Adamu said,
Whether we are able to do the dam or not, we will continue to have floods on the Rivers Niger and Benue Basins.
He said;
There was a consultant that had been appointed by the previous administration to work on this dam.
When I came into 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 a detailed feasibility and engineering design.
