6 July 2009
Lagos — Federal Government is planning to generate 340 megawatts of electricity from Gurara Dam, originally built for water supply to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Chief Press Secretary to the FCT Minister, Mr. Hazat Sule, said , in a statement yesterday in Abuja, that government was determined to realise the 6,000 megawatts electricity target promised the nation by December.
According to a News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report, the statement said: "The drive to meet the target is still on track, because all hands are on deck to realise it."
It said other advantages government intended to tap from the Gurara Dam project included large scale all-year-round mechanised irrigation farming, livestock and fishery production.
The statement said the FCT Minister, Alhaji Adamu Aliero, led a Presidential team, including the two Ministers of Agriculture and Water Resources, Dr Abba Ruma and Mrs. Fidelia Njeze, as well as the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, Dr Tanimu Kurfi, on a tour of the dam at the weekend.
It said the tour was to enable the team conduct an on-the-spot assessment of work at the dam, and assure Nigerians that the promise of 6,000 megawatts of electricity generation would be kept, given the state of work on the project.
The statement quoted Aliero as reiterating that President Umaru Yar'Adua was committed to providing stable power supply to the country, to stimulate economic activities.
He said the Federal Government was currently experimenting on a large scale all-year round mechanised irrigation farming at the dam site, to boost food security in the country.
The statement said the team also inspected the pilot scheme of the irrigation farm, where Aliero said the irrigation layout was about 4,000 hectares.
He said the scheme had been sub-divided into three lots, with lots one and three using Centre Pivot, while lot two uses canal system to provide the local farmers around the dam, the opportunity to exploit its irrigation potentialities.
The minister said maize, groundnut and rice were being cultivated at the irrigation farm, and that the crops were doing very well, because maize wascurrently being harvested.
He added that the dam would spur economic activities, with food processing companies springing up around the site, as a result of the large scale food production.
Aliero said the initiatives were deliberate moves by government to curtail food importation in the very near future, adding: "It is the best legacy any leader can bequeath to his people."The statement also quoted Ruma as saying that the Federal Government was working diligently to ensure food security in the country.He noted that the Gurara irrigation layout, when fully operational, would stabilise food production, especially rice production, noting that rice producedat the dam could be compared with those imported into the country.
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