By Abdullahi Mohammed
THE FEDERAL government is to overhaul the Alau dam in Maiduguri with special focus on raising its reservoir level and fixing damages resulting from the Sept. 9 disaster, an official has disclosed.
Mr Ali Dala, Director, Dams and Reservoir Operations, in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, disclosed this on Wednesday in Maiduguri when he led a team from various ministries on an assessment visit to the dam.
Damages to the facility had resulted into a devastating flood that claimed several lives and destroyed lots of properties in the Borno capital.
Dala, after assessing the dam, told newsmen that the purpose of the visit was to evaluate the facility, adding that other critical dams having similar challenges would equally be assessed.
“President Bola Tinubu has approved an Inter-Ministerial Technical Committee for re-evaluation of dams in Nigeria.
“The membership is drawn from the works, housing, environment, budget, finance and information ministries.
“The Office of the National Security Adviser is also part of the team.
“This committee was formed as a result of the flood disaster that hit Maiduguri when the Alau dam collapsed.
“In the North-East, we are planning to look at the Giri Dam; we did some study that revealed to us that the sedimentation level of about 40 per cent of the life storage of that dam requires urgent attention.
“It is critical for us to do something about it because the available water will not be able to meet the needs it was originally planned for.
“We are also going to look at Dadin Kowa dam as it is equally critical.
“In the south, we shall look at Ogbese Multipurpose dam in Ekiti, Oyan dam in Abeokuta, Egbo dam and Adada dam in Enugu.
“We shall also assess Obudu dam in Cross Rivers and Nkari dam in Akwa Ibom.
“We will also be looking at the Bakolori dam in Sokoto State because studies show that it has good sediment level that needs to be dissilted; we will look at that, write a report and make sure that the dam is dissilted.
“We are starting with Alau dam because of what happened recently. The federal government is planning to do the needful within the shortest time to avoid a recurrence of the Sept. 9 disaster,” he said.
He assured Nigerians that funds would not be a problem in the execution of the dam projects.
“The President has approved the release of funds for the execution of these projects through Disaster Release Funds,” Dala said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Alau dam, located about 12km away from Maiduguri metropolis, was built in 1984 and has a capacity for 112 cubic meters of water per day.
It accounts for about 40 per cent of water needs of Maiduguri residents and neighbouring communities. (NAN)
