Nigeria to build more dams for water supply and agriculture

The federal government is set to construct more dams across the country to improve water storage, prevent flooding, and support food production through irrigation. The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, shared this update during a meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. At the 31st Regular Meeting of the National Council on Water Resources and Sanitation, themed Water and Food Security: Challenges and Opportunities in the Face of Daunting Climate Change, Utsev explained that irrigation is key to food production, job creation, and poverty reduction. New irrigation projects have been approved in several states, including Ondo, Kwara, Benue, Kebbi, Edo, Adamawa, and Oyo. The government is also conducting safety assessments on existing dams, following a major flood in Maiduguri last year. Efforts are ongoing to complete Mangu Dam in Plateau State and Ogbesse Dam in Ekiti State by 2025. READ ALSO: Abia increases salaries of traditional rulers The Ministry has completed 44 water supply projects and is working on 64 more, funded by the African Development Bank. Additionally, 113 water supply contracts are in progress, with plans to finalize the Asaba and Umuahia National Water Quality Reference Laboratories. Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom urged the federal government to reactivate the abandoned Nkari and Ibiono Ibom dams to support agriculture and economic growth in the state. He pledged N200 million to support irrigation projects and expressed readiness to collaborate with the federal government and development partners. The event included an inspection of exhibition stands and a keynote address on securing Nigeria’s future through better water management.

FG Resumes Prosecution Of Boko Haram Detainees In Kainji — Ribadu

Nigeria has resumed the prosecution of all Boko Haram detainees in Kainji The National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, disclosed this at the 2-day High-level African Counter-terrorism Summit in Abuja According to him, Nigeria is also gathering intelligence on the activities of Boko Haram and the Islamic State–West Africa Province (ISWAP), to tackle the groups headlong. The Under-Secretary-General for Counter-Terrorism, United Nations Office on Counter-Terrorism, Vladimir Voronkov, said the success of the United Nations lies in the collaboration of African countries towards providing African-based solutions.

FG Expands Power Generation at Kanji, Commissions additional 300KWp Project

Further to the Renewed Hope agenda to provide adequate , reliable, and quality electricity to businesses and households in the country, the Federal Government has commissioned a 300KWp Solar PV pilot project in Kainji , Niger State. While commissioning the project, the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu said the project will increase power generation capacity, lower electricity costs while also fostering enhanced collaboration between the main concessionaire, Mainstream Energy Solution and its Chinese partner, HEDC in the renewable energy field. A statement by Bolaji Tunji, Special Adviser, Strategic Communication and Media Relations to the Minister stated that the power project comes with 675KWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), which is an integral part of the extension of 1G3 and 1G4 under the rehabilitation of the 1G9 in Kainji HPP project. The Minister who said efforts were progressing in achieving President Tinubu’s turnaround agenda on supply of reliable and quality power said the Power Ministry’s objective is to meet power demand by ensuring improved distribution and transmission infrastructure to minimize technical and commercial losses, closing the metering gap and resolving theliquidity, power theft and vandalism challenges. The Minister also said the destruction of some power towers around the country has been reported to the National Security Adviser (NSA) in order to strengthen security around the power infrastructure. “It is of no use to expend so much energy in providing power facilities if the delivery channel is weak, that is why the Ministry is concentrating on improvement of the transmission and distribution capacity.” On power theft and destruction of power infrastructure, Adelabu again emphasized the need for Nigerians and the different Communities where the facilities are located to protect them. “What is the essence of government and private companies expending resources on these power facilities while some elements within the society will deliberately move to destroy the facilities which are national assets. What we witnessed towards the end of 2023 was disheartening. Some of the power towers were brought down with loss of lives, in some cases, this is quite unfortunate. We should take it as a personal and collective responsibility to protect the infrastructure”. He added that plans are also underway to wield the big stick onpower theft through adequate legislation in order to serve as deterrent to others. The Minister also revealed that efforts have begun to bridge metering gaps in the country. “Presently, we have about 12 million electricity users, but only about five million are metered. As we are all aware, the President set up the Presidential Mass Metering Initiative of which I am the chairman, we are working assiduously on this initiative to bridge the metering gap.” Adelabu gave government’s assurance to continue to provide enabling environment for the private sector to leverage on opportunities inherent in government policies, incentives and regulations for sustainable power supply for economic development and improvement of the standard of living of Nigerians, especially rural dwellers adding that government had also come up with relevant policies and programmes in order to provide direction in ensuring power availability to the people. Speaking earlier, Managing Director of Mainstream Energy Solution, Engineer Lamu Audu said the project is in line with the National Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency policy of the Federal government which sets out the blueprint to increasing the country’s renewable energy development by 2030. He said the pilot project is the beginning of Mainstream’s integration of Variable Renewable Energy into its core business, adding that plan is at an advanced stage to build a 450MWp and 150MWp Solar PV at Kainji and Jebba Hydro Power Plants (HPPs). Audu called on government to continue to provide the enabling environment that would attract more funding from private investors.