Abuja — The Federal Government has set aside N5 billion in the 2009 budget to offset water bills, even as it has disclosed that there shall be no new water projects in the year 2009. It owes a total of N84 billion

The Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr Sayyadi Abba Ruma, revealed this at the meeting of House Committee on Water esources over 2009 budget defence at the National Assembly, Abuja.

Ruma hinted that the decision of government to stay action on new water project for year 2009 was to enable the government offset bills on jobs that had been done, and to complete projects that are on.

According to him, in time past, the government had built dams and done other water projects, which are at their optimum capacity and utilisation hence, the decision to redirect the budget and focus on such projects to bring them to completion so that their potentials are fully maximised to the benefits of Nigerians.

The minister said that in 2009, the emphasis shall be on how water can be used to produce food.

He said irrigation revitalisation is core in the fiscal year, addomg that attention shall also be on the fisheries department, which has huge potentials if explored to save the country millions of dollars.