By Usman Abubakar, in Maiduguri
The National Chairman of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has advocated for the recharge of the shrinking Lake Chad from water bodies in Nigeria, Central African Republic (CAR) and the Republican of Congo to enable it restore its age-old critical economic significance in Africa.
The lake has shrunk by 90 percent since 1960.
He, Friday, January 31, in Maiduguri, opined that only that decision can enable the lake play its central role in the stabilization of the terror-troubled region.
Ganduje, a one-time Executive Secretary of the multinational Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), was delivering the remarks, ending the 5th edition of the Basin’s Governors Forum organized by the commission and hosted by Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
He is expressed the fear that the lake will continue with such human activities as silting and diversion of its water.
“When I was at the commission, there were efforts by the commission to recharge the lake from rivers in the Central African Republic and Congo, while they, in turn will be paid with electricity and irrigation farms to be developed by the commission around the recharged lake,” the APC helmsman recalled.
“I don’t know the state of those efforts now, but I think the lake can be recharged from Nigeria’s internal water bodies such as the Gongola, Benue, Kaduna and Hadejia-Jama’are rivers, and water bodies from the Central African Republic and Congo,” Ganduje opined.
In the communique issued at the end of the 5-day meeting, the 8-governor Forum commended the significant contributions and achievements of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) and the troop-contributing countries of the LCBC—Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, and Benin—in combating non-state armed groups, notably Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP).
“These efforts have greatly reduced the threat posed by these terrorist groups, enhanced civilian protection, and compelled many members of these groups to surrender,” the Forum acknowledged.
The Forum emphasized its commitment to redouble efforts and further strengthen the MNJTF and other efforts to completely eliminate the continued threat posed by Boko Haram, ISWAP, and other terrorist groups in the region.
The communique was read by Brig. Gen. Mahamadou Ibrahim Bagadoma, the governor of Diffa Province of Niger Republic.
The meeting was convened by the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) and hosted by the Government of Yobe State (Nigeria), with support from the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
At the end of the meeting, Governor Mai Mala Buni of Nigeria, took from Ildjima Abdraman, Governor of Chad Republic’s Hadjar Lamis Province, as the Chairman of the Forum for the next two years.
