Buhari urges NASS to domesticate Lake Chad Basin water charter

President Muhammadu Buhari has urged the National Assembly to domesticate the Lake Chad Basin water charter, which was adopted by heads of states and government summit in 2012.

The Lake Chad Water Charter is a document setting out the rights, obligations, duties, restrictions, processes and procedures pertaining to proper management of the Lake Chad resources. The document, which is awaiting final approval by the National Assembly, becomes the first legal instrument after the 1964 Fort Lamy Convention to be collectively assented to by the highest political authorities as a binding document to cover the entire Lake Chad Basin.

Speaking while receiving an environmental audit on the drying up of the Lake Chad, on Monday, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari commended the resolution of the African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution working group on environmental auditing which led to the audit.

As a member of the Lake Chad Basin Commission summit of Heads of States and Government, the Nigerian government has been giving maximum support to the Lake Chad Basin Commission to ensure the discharge of its mandates. “Since the audit report has been fully submitted, to the Lake Chad Basin Commission Heads of States and Government, we will
ensure that recommendations are considered for implementation. I will urge our National Assembly to domestic this all important Lake chad Basin water charter.

“I hope to strengthen the platform to ensure sustainable and equitable water resources management based on integrated industrial principles. I acknowledge that the office of the Auditor-General for the Federation could carry out effective re-organization to perform specialised audit based on international best practices without sufficient funds, I will therefore do everything possible within the law to ensure that you succeed” the President said.

Presenting the audit report, the Auditor General of the Federation, Samuel Ukura said the key message of the National Audit Report of Nigeria is that Lake Chad is drying up very fast from 25,000 sq.km in 1963 to just 1,500 sq.km as at present. “We must save Lake Chad from extinction” he said.

The audit, reports a weak control of human activities on the issue of water resources in the Lake Chad Basin; for instance excessive extraction of water, dam constructions, diversions of rivers etc:
Water resources management decisions were not based on water use data. Water use regulations exist but is not enforced in the Lake Chad Basin. For instance, non enforcement of sanctions to violators, non issuance of water permits to users etc. The audit also reports arbitrary construction of dams without impact assessment.

Ukura further noted that there is a strong correlation between the shrinking Lake Chad and insecurity in the North East of Nigeria. The management of transboundary water resources is one of the most important water issues today because a total of 261 rivers are shared by two or more countries, he said.

He noted that a significant part of the increasing population from 30million to about 47 million had to move south in search of alternative livelihoods. Millions of fishing and pastoralist
population are worst affected by the shrinking Lake Chad. Recent insurgent activities in North Eastern Nigeria have also led to thousands of people fleeing the North East region of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and towards the Southern part of Nigeria.

Meanwhile the President, requested for a recall of an earlier $5million study instituted by former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

The audit instituted by the former President, he said, had some considerable recommendations which may guide the government to seek help from its foreign allies in the emptying of the lake.

Buhari said he had presented an article by a University of London Professor, to the former President and he had taken the initiative to institute an audit. “He gave $5million to the study, and the study was that unless some of the rivers from the Central Africa Republic are diverted to empty into Chad Basin, Lake Chad will dry up.

“I understand that this report which was sponsored by Nigeria has been submitted. I am a bit disappointed that in the speech of the Auditor-General, there was no mention of this report whether my own report was correct: that $5million was given.

“One of the recommendations was that at the time the report was submitted , the cost of diverting one of the rivers to empty into Lake Chad would be between $13billion and $15billion. I think this government will like to see this report and see how we can ask our foreign friends how they can help us”.

In response, the Representative of LCBC, Sanusi Abdullahi, said the report had since been handed out to the public, with an estimate of $14.5billion. “We have been consulting the Congo Basin to allay their fears on the environmental impact assessment they want us to add and we need some additional political support to b able to convince them that it is also in their interest to see that this water is diverted to Lake Chad.

We have mad effort with the Champion of Save Lake Chad, former President Obasanjo to sensitize the international community, particular Europe whom we perceived have some unfriendly attitude towards the transfer”.

Elizabeth Archibong