Sam Philip
In a further attempt to over the challenge of power supply in the country, the Federal Government has disclosed that it is targeting generation of 30 Gigawatts through 500,000 hectares irrigation .
The programme which is coming up under the
Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria(SPIN)Project, Prof. Joseph Utsev, Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, said the Federal Government was committed to improving its food, water, and energy security, and with the use of the Irrigate Nigeria Project.
He assured that “We can achieve the vision of having an estimated 500,000 ha irrigated agriculture, 30 Gigawatts of sustainable energy, and improved resilience to floods, droughts, and climate change.
The Minister said: “The TRIMING Project pioneered transformative management initiatives and introduced the training and empowerment of the Water User Associations (WUAs) to participate in the Management, Operations, and Maintenance of the irrigation schemes.
“The project recorded a remarkable success story, as the Management Operation and Maintenance model was used by the WUAs to rehabilitate about 32,000 ha of large-scale irrigation schemes, which significantly enhanced food production and created positive impacts on the livelihood of especially rural farmers.
“The Federal Government, in an attempt to build on the results achieved under the TRIMING Project, strategically designed the Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria Project in collaboration with the World Bank Group, which is supported by a loan facility of USD 500 million.
“The project seeks to address critical national priorities in the areas of water resources management, irrigation development, and hydropower generation through an integrated and multi-sectoral approach, involving stakeholders at both the Federal and State levels under two models (Model 1 and Model 2).”
He said: “The criteria-based and transparent selection process adopted throughout the exercise reflected our shared commitment to coming up with the seventeen (17) States that qualified to participate in the project.
“The project has a clear institutional arrangement that defines the roles to be played by each entity as contained in the project operation documents.”