Sani Adamu
5 November 2009
The debate, for and against, on the proposed Kafin Zaki Dam in Bauchi State has become nationalised and is still gathering steam.
A workshop on grassroots development recently joined in the argument. It urged the Federal Government to stop the plan to build Kafin Zaki Dam till the needs of communities in the downstream are addressed.
The workshop was organised by a Maiduguri-based Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Sukul Community Development Association (SCODA), in collaboration with the Society for Water and Public Health Protection (SWAPHEP).
"Government must address the concerns of Hadejia, Jama'are, Komadugu and Yobe Basin downstream communities before building the new dam," it said in its communique.
It expressed worry over the intention of the Federal Government and its agencies to continue with the plan to construct the dam in spite of what the downstream settlers regard as its adverse consequences.
It also observed that the design of the Kafin Zaki Dam would not adequately provide the required water needs of the downstream communities.
It also called for compensation to communities that have already lost their agricultural crops to preliminary activities at constructing the dam.
"In the alternative, government should discontinue the dam construction," the workshop said.
In standing against the construction of the Kafin Zaki Dam, the NGO has a friend in Borno State Government, which recently renewed its call on the Federal Government to stop construction work on the proposed dam.
Alhaji Ahmed Jidda, the Secretary to the State Government, reaffirmed Borno's position recently while receiving members of the Integrated Water Resources Management Coalition -an NGO.
"I wish to express the state government's concern on the construction of the dam in Bauchi State because the project did not provide for the welfare of downstream communities," he said in Maduguri.
Jidda said Borno governor, Ali Modu Sheriff, had personally delivered a letter opposing the project to President Umaru Yar'Adua at Aso Villa, following concerns raised by affected communities in Borno.
"The dam project will halt farming activities in Abadam, Mobbar, Damasak, Kukawa and other communities located on the Yobe River Basin," he added.
While explaining the purpose of their visit, Alhaji Abdullahi Abdulrahman, leader of the coalition's delegation, said it was seeking to partner with the government toward environmental protection, "especially in the preservation of water resources".
The dam was conceived in 1977, alongside Tiga and Challawa dams, as sub-regional projects aimed at regulating the flow of both the Hadejia and Jama'are rivers within the Hadejia/Kamadugu/Yobe river basin.
The aim, at its conception, was to promote irrigational agricultural development.
Available records also show that the idea of the dams followed the devastating drought of 1973, which ravaged the greater parts of the Sahelian Zone of Nigeria.
The records further show that the dams were designed to provide "controlled releases" of water for the development of more than 125,000 hectares of arable land for irrigation activities along the basins of Jama'are and Yobe rivers.
The Kafin Zaki dam is expected to provide 80,000 hectares of irrigable land for farming communities in Bauchi State, 15,000 hectares in Jigawa, 25,000 hectares in Yobe and 5,000 hectares in Borno.
Aside its potential of ensuring a harvest of more than 100,000 metric tons of fish annually, the dam, according to a handbook on it, can also guarantee an all-year-round access to drinking water and pasture for humans and livestock along the more than 1,250-kilometre Jama'are-Yobe river course.
Dr. Sale Toro, an agronomist, lends credence to the potential of the dam in enhancing the economic fortunes of the more than 20 million people in the North-East region of Nigeria.
"The establishment of conventional large scale irrigation schemes along the Jama'are-Yobe river systems, through releases from the Kafin Zaki Dam, will offer a lot of opportunities to communities downstream of the dam".
Toro said contrary to the notion that Kafin Zaki Dam would reduce the flow of water to the downstream communities in Borno and Yobe States, it would only regulate and firm up the flow and, by implication, enhance more agricultural activities down stream.
Allaying the fears of the downstream communities, Toro noted that the Federal Government had enlisted the services of a reputable consulting firm to review the dam engineering designs, taking into consideration all downstream communities' water demand, hydro-environmental flow requirements and hydrology of the basin.
According to the agronomist, the construction of the Kafin Zaki Dam will help greatly in reducing the rapid desiccation of Lake Chad without resorting to expensive transfer of waters from Cameroon and Congo basins.
Toro maintained that with a well maintained reservoir and operational procedures, coupled with an effective water sharing arrangement, "the Kafin Zaki together with Tiga and Challawa dams, will be a great source of inspiration to communities in Yobe and Borno States.
"Interestingly, the dam, which covers a distance of more than 1,330 kilometres, originates from Plateau to Lake Chad, draining through parts of Plateau, Bauchi, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno States, with more than 60 per cent draining within Bauchi State.
"With the adverse level of poverty, food insecurity, high unemployment and ravaging effects of persistent drought within the North-East region, the anti-Kafin Zaki dam campaigners should passionately soft-pedal in the interest of impoverished farmers along the Jama'are and Yobe River system", he added.
Like the agronomist, Alhaji Sule Jibir, a specialist in dam construction, has estimated that the construction of the dam would increase downstream annual water flow by more than 2,400 mm3 -- about 300 per cent above the existing flow.
Jibir, however, warned that elaborate river training and de-silting works were required to ensure smooth flow of water without severe inundation of settlements, wetlands and rain-fed farmlands in the downstream communities.
It is perhaps based on such argument that the Bauchi State Government recently started an aggressive sensitisation campaign to educate stakeholders and downstream communities across the North-East, on the importance of the dam to the economic prosperity of the region.
Alhaji Ahmed Dandija, Secretary to Bauchi State Government, is leading the campaign. He has cautioned politicians against politicising the economic potential of the proposed dam project.
"I think the fear expressed by the downstream communities in Borno and Yobe states is largely as a result of ignorance," he said.
He added that a proper environmental impact assessment had been carried out to allay such fears.
Dandija advised the benefiting states to work toward the completion of the dam in view of its economic benefits to millions of their people.
According to him, the construction of the dam will boost agricultural activities, enhance economic status of the people and reduce poverty in the North-East region.
"Currently, rain-fed agriculture is the backbone of the economies of the entire communities in Bauchi, Yobe and Borno States.
Unfortunately, persistent drought, rapid desertification and absence of a comprehensive water conservation system in the entire North-East region has reduced the potential of our people to produce more food. In fact, it has been established that the level of poverty in the North-East region is up to 80 per cent.
"The construction of the Kafin Zaki Dam will, therefore, provide large hectares of arable land for irrigation activities and provide employment to teeming unemployed youths within the benefiting states," he said.
To ensure transparency and accountability, Dandija said that the Dangote Group of Companies had agreed to spend more than N60 billion -- through a Public-Private-Partnership with the Federal Government - on the project.
"The dam is expected to provide more than 125,000 hectares of arable land for irrigation activities, while about one million tonnes of sugar is expected to be produced.
"More than one million jobs will also be provided through the cultivation of industrial sugarcane when the project is fully completed.
"Government will continue to educate the host communities and other stakeholders on the importance of the dam to the socio-economic lives of the people in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states," he added.
But in spite of such soothing words, those opposed to the construction of the dam still insist that it will increase the economic misfortunes of the North-East region of the country.
One of such people is Senator Ahmed Lawan, representing Yobe Zone "C" senatorial district. He is arguing that building irrigation canals on the Jama'are valley, under the Kafin Zaki dam project, would adversely affect farming activities in the downstream communities of Gashua in Yobe.
Lawan believed that apart from negatively affecting economic activities of the people of Yobe and Borno States, the damming of the Jama'are river would exacerbate flooding of downstream communities in the affected states.
But, Toro disagreed, citing the experiences of Tiga and Challawa dams on the Hadejia River.
"Before the construction of Tiga and Challawa dams, water flow, particularly during dry season at Gashua area, were at zero level.
"But with the construction of the two dams, the flow of water in the downstream communities of Gashua increased drastically all year round.
"The construction of Kafin Zaki will not be an exception. What is necessary is that the huge silt deposits and grass menace along the Hadejia and Jama'are Rivers and the Wetlands areas of Yobe and Borno States must be cleared to guarantee constant flows of water downstream", he said.
Toro counseled stakeholders to prevail on the federal authorities to embark on massive river training programmes for the Jama'are, Hadejia river systems for the benefit of the downstream communities, rather than do anything capable of aborting a well-conceived project designed to be of tremendous benefit to the nation.
As if to support Toro, the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) recently warned that with rapid population growth and worsening drought situation, coupled with over-dependence on rain-fed agriculture, Nigeria may not be able to feed her teeming population beyond 2025.
The report, released in July 2009, harped on the need to urgently reconcile and
harmonise strategies for appropriate and sustainable water conservation measures in order to boost Nigeria's capacity to produce enough food-- through large scale irrigation activities.
Alhaji Muktar Gidado, Vice President, Zone 'E' of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), agrees with FAO's fears.
The journalist, who saw the Kafin Zaki dam as "very crucial" to sustained agricultural activities, suggested a broad-based media tour of the Kafin Zaki dam site -- up to Damaskas -- as part of measures to help raise adequate public awareness and drum up support for its actualisation.
"It is important to carry all stakeholders along in order to allay the fears and apprehension expressed by the downstream communities," he said.
Like Gidado, many observers say that such enlightenment campaigns are necessary to remove the myths and misconceptions surrounding the dam project.
All said and done, the opposing forces are yet to reach a compromise. So, the debate continues. NAN
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