FG to seek alternative to $15bn Lake Chad recharge

The Federal Government is to seek alternative to recharging the Lake Chad basin through inter basin water transfer from Congo basin, a project that has been estimated to cost 15 billion dollars.

Minister of Water Resources Engr. Suleiman Adamu disclosed this during a twitter chat with social media influencers and other Nigerians.

The decision of the government to seek an alternative to save the basin is due to the high cost of the inter basin water transfer which a feasibility study had shown would cost about 15 billion dollars.

According to available reports, the basin had lost over 90 per cent of its surface area in the last 30 years and would cost about 15 billion dollars Public Private funding to execute, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, disclosed in 2016 after a regional summit in Abuja.

However, responding to question asked by Nigerians on tweeter using the hashtag: #ASKHMWATERRESOURCES, the Minister of Water Resources said that the project was too expensive to be easily funded.

He said that the Ministry would be organising an International Conference before 2017 end, to seek an alternative and cheaper solution to address the shrinking of the Lake Chad.

“Lake Chad shrinking is a direct consequence of the insurgency in the North East because people no longer use the water.

“We would be organising an International conference before the end of the year to discuss the shrinking of the Lake and the option available to us to restore the basin.

We don’t want to be straight jacketed, maybe the conference will give us a better alternative than the inter basin transfer.

“After the conference, we will be able to confirm the best, cheaper and more sustainable option.

“The shrinkage is a very serious problem and we can never know what is going to happen along the line. There is also evaporation and desertification as well,” he said. (NAN)