FG harps on modern methods of water management to tackle hunger

Nigeria’s water management structure weak, says Goronyo

The Federal Government has emphasised the need to embrace a modern water governance system to take the country out of the food crisis. Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof Joseph Utsev, stated this at the closing ceremony of the 30th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Water Resources and Sanitation, in Abuja, yesterday. Utsev also stressed the need to engage the country’s security architecture to protect the farmers and return them to farmlands without fear. 

MEANWHILE, the Minister of State for Water Resources and Sanitation, Bello Goronyo, noted that the country’s water governance structure is weak and needs to be strengthened.
  
He said: “Despite the laudable achievements recorded by the Remote Sensing Data Analysis Service (RSDAS), Nigeria’s agricultural environment with 3.14 million hectares’ irrigation potential is being threatened by land degradation, deforestation, rapid population growth, climate change and other socio-economic development challenges.”
  
“Also, the water governance structure to support the food security programme is very weak and all call for urgent actions to reverse the trend.”As part of efforts to align with the cardinal focus of the present administration, which is food security, Goronyo said the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) were engaging in massive agriculture during the dry season.