By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
The Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo,has directed the state Ministry of Water Resources utilize dams and irrigation services, in line with the principle of the 32-year- development plan for the development of the state.
The Commissioner for Water Resources,Engr.Yahaya MD Farouk, disclosed this in Lokoja on Friday during a press conference.
According to the commissioner,the directive is also to gear the state towards keying into the concept of Sustainable Power and Irrigation for Nigeria (SPIN),by the federal government scheduled to commence operation in 2025.
He said towards this end, his ministry had swung into action by identifying Osara,Kampe and Omi dams for the project,adding that the dams identified had the potential to also generate power among other services.
“With the directive of His Excellency, the Governor of the Kogi State, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo,we are going into dams and irrigation services which hitherto we have not been exploiting.
“We have identified some dams for expansion and efforts are being made to rehabilitate arable lands around the dams,” he said.
The commissioner noted that kogi State, blessed with bodies of water, has the potential to key into SPIN programme for irrigational services and generate power among other advantages.
Engr. Farouk added that he and other officials of the ministry were in Minna, recently, in Minna ,Niger state to meet with partners in the process of fine-tuning the realizing of the project
The Commissioner also told the journalists that the state government is poised to revamp the equipment of RUWASSA for effective water supply and environmental services to the rural communities in the state.
