To revitalise resources and sustain the livelihood of inhabitants of the basin, the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) has revealed plans to invest $9.33bn in the region.
Member countries of NBA adopted the multi billion-dollar investment plan for the region beginning from 2008 to 2027.The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said at the 36th Ordinary Session of the NBA in Abuja, that another $7.2bn operational plan has been adopted for the secretariat, while $3.11bn would be spent on the authority’s Climate Resilience Investment Plan.
NBA, which is an intergovernmental organisation in West Africa, established to foster co-operation in managing and developing the resources of the River Niger basin, has nine-member countries, including Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Cote d’Ivoire.
Adamu, who doubles as Chairman, Council of Ministers of the NBA, lamented that the combined phenomena of climate change, population growth, irrational and abusive exploitation of natural resources, have had and continue to have adverse consequences on socio-economic activities in the basin, through silting of the river and its tributaries, as well as, infestation by invasive aquatic plants, deforestation and pollution of various origins.
The NBA’s Executive Secretary, Abderahim Hamid, said the regional body was working with the World Bank to invest $500m for the development of resilience to climate change in the basin.
