Minister laments poor use of hydropower to boost electricity

AS the Federal Government strives to improve power generation in the country, Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu yesterday said that the water sector has the hydro potential to contribute 12,220 megawatts of electricity to the national grid.
Adamu expressed regrets that currently, a paltry 1,730mw of hydropower potential has been developed from the three dams at Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro, asserting that the hydropower option present a good potential in the nation’s overall energy mix and security.
The Minister, who disclosed this during a ministerial retreat in Abuja, said that the ministry has completed about 14 dams that have combined hydropower capacity of over 700mw yet to be utilized, assuring that he would focus efforts to promptly utilize them.
He pointed out that the nation has about 1,800m3/capita/year of the total renewable water resources, which is well above the 1000m3/capita/year typically used to define water scarcity, affirming that Nigeria’s water resources can adequately support domestic, industrial, agricultural, hydropower, transportation, transportation and many other uses if properly harnessed.
Adamu however, noted that the mandate of the ministry was to develop and implement policies, projects and programmes that would enable sustainable access to safe and sufficient water to meet the socio cultural and economic development needs of all Nigerians
He lamented that despite the abundant water resource, about 52.7million, that is 31 percent, Nigerians still lack access to improved drinking water sources, maintaining that the trend portrays that Nigeria has failed meet the MDG target of 75 percent of improved water supply coverage.
“We need to change this trend to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 100 percent access to water Supply by the citizen by the year 2030,” Adamu stated.