The Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the following documents:
1. National Water Policy (2016 – 2030), which seeks to comprehensively provide strategies that will improve management and delivery of water resources in Nigeria.
2. National Water Resources Bill, which seeks to consolidate all existing laws – the Water Resources Act, River Basin Development Authorities Act, National Water Resources Institutes Act, Nigeria Hydrological Services Act, etc – into a single piece of legislation that conforms to international standards. The Bill will also help clarify tensions relating to other Water-related laws under the purview of the Ministries of Environment, Mining, Agriculture, etc, and ultimately make it easier for the private sector to step in and invest in water supply schemes across Nigeria.
3. New Irrigation and Drainage Policy, which seeks to improve irrigation infrastructure and irrigation management in Nigeria.
Takeaways:
– Nigeria has 340 billion cubic meters of Surface Water and 92 billion cubic meters of Ground Water
– Nigeria has 3.1m hectares of potentially irrigable. Only 130,000 ha developed formally; and only 70,000 ha in actual use
– The Federal Ministry of Water resources has catalogued 36 Greenfield Irrigation Sites for Potential Investors. The sites range in size from 20 hectares to 125,000 hectares, amounting to a total of 388,000 hectares. Details in due course
Policy source: Aso Villa Newsletter