6 govs to resuscitate HJKYB trust fund with N322m

Governors of Plateau, Bauchi, Kano, Jigawa, Yobe and Borno states yesterday agreed to collectively provide N322m to resuscitate the HadejiaJama’are-Komadugu-Yobe Basin (HJKYB) trust fund which was created in 2006.

The governors, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Lake Chad Basin Commission signed a communiqué at the end of a two-day summit yesterday at the Plateau State government house, Rayfield.

Those in attendance include Simon Bako Lalong (Plateau), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano) and Muhammed Abubakar (Bauchi), while governors of Yobe, Borno and Jigawa as well as the Minister of Water Resources were represented. The objective of the HJKYB trust fund was to have a single shared platform to address the transboundary water management issue of the hydrological basin which covers 148,000km.

The governors agreed to provide N124m for operating the secretariat for one year before the catchment committee takes off with Plateau State contributing N11m while the other five states will be expected to contribute N28.1m each.

The communiqué also indicated that the states will provide N200m as counterpart funding for the African Water Facility /African Development Bank HJKYB project with each State contributing N36.3m while Plateau will contribute N18.1m.

The communiqués also reconstituted the board of trustees with the governors agreeing to send two nominees to the minister of water resources within the next two weeks. The HJKYB hydrological map will be updated to reflect Plateau State and the Dilimi river and also the portion of Niger Republic.

Earlier, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Water Resources, Sen. Muhammad Ubali Shitu said the sum of N1.7bn, raised by the states in the past which represents 10% of the total amount of N17 b needed could not do much as the secretariat was presently finding it difficult to pay salaries despite the fact that it has laid off about 50% of its staff.