Ahmed Mari
29 October 2009
Maiduguri — About 15 million Nigerians from the seven states of Plateau, Bauchi, Gombe, Kano , Jigawa, Yobe and Borno states have threatened to migrate to the neighbouring Niger and Chad Republic , should the federal government embark on the construction of the Kafin Zaki Dam project.
This stunned revelation was contained in various petitions written and endorsed by all the North-East Speakers Forum and addressed to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua which was made available to our correspondent in Maiduguri , the Borno state capital.
Our Reporter also reliably gathered last week that the representatives and officials from the six Northern boundary states of Plateau, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Borno and Yobe, resolved in a communiqué that utterances from group and individuals on the proposed Kafin Zaki Dam construction and other related issues within the Basins should be restrained pending the out come of the consultant reports commissioned to conduct the EIA by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources.
The speaker of the Borno state House of Assembly who is also the Chairman of the 19 northern Speaker's Forum, Hon. Goni Ali Modu said in an interview that the proposed construction of the Dam was very undemocratic if the federal government allow Bauchi state government to go ahead with the project, which he said would adversely affect the so-economic activities of millions of its people.
He however stated that even the construction of the Chalawa Dam in Kano state, which was executed many years ago has adversely affected farmers in Borno and Yobe states, as the volume of water available has greatly reduced to its bearest minimum, stressing that already all the speakers from the 19 Northern states of the federation in their meeting last week in Gombe state endorsed as one of the issues raised in their communiqué which would soon be presented to President Yar,Adua for prompt action.
Hon. Modu emphasized that unless the federal government wants the people to migrate, their sources of livelihood would be cut off, should in case the Kafin Zaki Dam becomes a reality.
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