Abuja – The Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu has rated the River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) poor in ensuring food sufficiency in Nigeria.
This is contained in a statement issued by Mr Alex Okoh, the Head of Public Communications, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in Abuja on Thursday.
The statement noted that Adamu said this recently at the inauguration of the Steering Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) and Technical Sub-Committee of the RBDAs in Abuja.
He said that RBDAs had failed to perform to their full capacity over the years.
Adamu said they did not realise that they were vital instruments for the attainment of self-sufficiency in food production and equitable allocation of water resources across Nigeria.
He, however, charged members of the committees to work assiduously to reform the river basins and the water sector.
The reforms, he said would drive the agricultural sector towards the provision of food security, creation of jobs, diversification of the economy and development of the rural economy.
Adamu urged members to consider the work as a national assignment aimed at achieving President Muhammadu Buhari’s promises to Nigerians through diversifying the nation’s economy.
This, he stated would require repositioning the agricultural sector through effective utilisation of water resources and the river basins.
He enjoined the committees to work at a faster pace and promised to provide the necessary support and cooperation to enable the teams deliver on approved Terms of Reference (TOR) and work plans without delay.
He listed the TOR for the steering committee as the finalisation of the National Water Resources Bill and to ensure its passage by the National Assembly.
Others are the review and update of policies on national water resources management and national irrigation, and drainage policy and strategy.
Adamu said that membership of the steering committee chaired by him cut across the relevant government agencies and industry experts.
The statement also quoted the acting Director-General of BPE, Mr Vincent Akpotaire as saying that the reform of the RBDAs was a major step taken to empower the rural dwellers thereby stemming rural-urban drift.
Akpotaire described the minister as the champion and pillar of support for the drive to make the reform of the RBDAs.
He said private sector involvement was not to take the assets; rather they were to farm the river basins irrigation facilities while the RBDAs were the landlords.
Akpotaire said that the private sector would provide the funding required to develop the River Basins, and if well managed would no longer depend on treasury for sustenance.
He said that some of the benefits to be realised from the reforms were power generation from small hydro dams and commercial agricultural activities to empower rural Nigeria through the creation of economic hubs.
The statement said the Director-General, Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr Aminu Dikko said there was need for capacity building through training and retraining, especially on the concept of Public Private Partnership (PPP).
The statement recalled that 12 RBDAs were established in the 1970s to address the problem of drought and likely famine the country might face at that time.
The journey towards the reform of the RBDAs started with the enactment of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation & Commercialisation) Act of 1999, which listed the RBDAs among the Public Enterprises (PEs) for partial-commercialisation. (NAN)
