Agriculture, BREAKING NEWS
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SULEIMAN Adamu, minister of water resources, has charged members of the Steering Committee and Technical Sub-Committee of the River Basin Development Authorities, RBDAs, to work assiduously to reform the river basins and the water sector to drive the agricultural sector towards the provision of food security, creation of jobs, diversification of the economy and development of the rural economy.
The minister spoke at the inauguration of the Steering Committee of the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, and Technical Sub-Committee for the RBDAs in Abuja on Thursday, May 26.
The minister stated that the task ahead was enormous, and urged the members to consider the work as a national assignment aimed at achieving Mr. President’s promises to Nigerians through diversifying the nation’s economy. To achieve this, he said, requires repositioning agricultural sector through effective utilization of water resources and the river basins.
He noted that the RBDAs have not performed up to their full capacities over the years in terms of service delivery and financial management and failed to realize the high expectations of the government and the people of Nigeria of becoming vital instruments for the attainment of self-sufficiency in food production and equitable allocation of water resources across Nigeria.
The Minister who enjoined the Committee to work at amore faster pace, 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 Finalization of the National Water Resources Bill and ensure its passage by the National Assembly; Review and update policies on national Water Resources Management and National Irrigation and Drainage Policy and Strategy; Consider and make recommendations on private sector participation in irrigation development and management; Review and agree on the roles of RBDAs and other stakeholders in the water sector within the framework of commercialization of the RBDAs; Ensure the successful implementation of the partial commercialization of the RBDAs; Review and update the policy, legal and regulatory framework governing the RBDAs; and Take any step(s) that will ensure the creation of a sound water resources management system for the country.
The Minister pointed out that membership of the Steering Committee chaired by him cuts across the relevant government agencies and industry experts.
In his remarks, Vincent Akpotaire, acting Director-General of BPE, described the reform of the RBDAs as a major step taken to empower the rural dwellers thereby stemming rural-urban drift.
Akpotaire said he has found the minister as a soul-mate, the champion and pillar of support for the drive to make the reform of “the RBDAs not just for water development, but to empower the rural youth and stem rural/urban migration, as the small hydros can provide some power to develop small economic hubs and job creation.”
He said private sector involvement is not to take the assets, rather they farm the River Basins irrigation facilities while the RBDAs are the Landlords, noting 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.
The BPE Boss expressed satisfaction that the DG, Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC, Aminu Dikko had bought into this and the ICRC is working in tandem to ensure that the reform process is pulled through
He listed power generation from small hydro dams; commercial agricultural activities that will empower rural Nigeria through the creation of economic hubs; and the diversification of the economy as some of the benefits to be realized when the reform of the RBDAs is carried out.
In his contribution, the ICRC Boss said he was quite satisfied with the presentation of the Boss as a through reflection of the thinking on the Reform of the RBDAs. He also agreed that there is need for capacity building through training and retraining especially on the concept of Public Private Partnership, PPP, which is required for the sector. He said the managers of the RBDAs need to internalize it because there is a yearning gap of deficit across the sector which the reform seeks to fill since the funds to bring them back to optima level are not in the treasury.
According to Dikko, “we need to ensure that the private sector while making reasonable return on investment they do so within acceptable parameters.” However, he said “we need to be energised by the spirit of nationalism and humility to be open to learning new things, and capacity building therefore, is key.”
He said the stakeholders need to be serious to deliver on promises made to Nigerians, and offered to provide capacity support through training for members and the managements of the RBDAs.
It would be 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. However, the RBDAs had not performed up to their full capacities over the years, both in terms of service delivery and financial management.
The journey towards the reform of the RBDAs started with the enactment of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation & Commercialization) Act of 1999, which listed the RBDAs among the Public Enterprises (PEs) for partial-commercialization.
There is therefore the need to reform the RBDAs and the Water Sector as a whole, to drive the agricultural sector towards the provision of food (food security), creation of jobs, diversification of the economy and development of the rural economy.
— Jun 2, 2016 @ 16:10 GMT
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