Daily Independent Online.
*
Tuesday, June 22, 2004.
Obasanjo gives N690m for Lake Chad expansion
From Chesa Chesa
and
Gbenga Abiodun
Abuja.
President Olusegun Obasanjo has moved to
save the Lake Chad basin from drying up by approving the release of N690million
($5 million) as Nigeria’s contribution to the Lake Chad Basin Commission
(LCBC) for feasibility studies.
The chairman of the Regional Parliamentary
Committee on LCBC, Mohammed Kumalia, at the second meeting of the committee in
Abuja on Monday said N276million ($2 million) has been given to the LCBC for
the job.
Kumalia said after the conclusion of
feasibility studies, the committee will follow with the more difficult task of
convincing international donors to fund the actual project.
The project involves transferring water
from River Oubangui in the Congo Basin to the Lake Chad Basin to prevent the
latter from completely drying up in the next 20 years and to avert the famine,
poverty, insecurity and environmental catastrophe that will result.
The Executive Secretary of the LCBC,
Muhammed Sani Adamu, said the gesture of the Nigerian government is an eloquent
testimony of its commitment to the goals of the commission set up 40 years ago.
He added that this is a gesture worth emulating by other member countries.
He said historical records state that 1500
years ago, Lake Chad disappeared completely and reappeared 25 to 30 years later
and that a recurrence must be avoided through the proposed inter-basin water
transfer project.
He listed other benefits of the project to
include hydro-power generation; navigation; fisheries development; industrial
development; water supply and irrigation as well as access to land-locked areas
to enhance regional development and integration.
