By Clara Nwachukwu

The Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Power have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, for the use of some of the country’s dams for power generation, the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, has said.

Ochekpe disclosed this last week in Abuja, while receiving the update on the partial commercialization of the River Basin Development Authorities, RBDAs in the country from the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, Ms. Bolanle Onagoruwa.

A statement from the BPE quoted the minister as saying that some of the dams are viable for power generation, which prompted her ministry to dialogue with the Power Ministry on the matter.

She expressed the willingness of the ministry to partner with government agencies like the BPE for the benefit of Nigerians, adding that at present “the ministry is also partnering with the Ministry of Agriculture on a pilot irrigation scheme for graduates to ease unemployment in the country.”

She also said that her ministry is in talks with the Urban Development Bank, UDB, to fund the project for the benefit of the teeming unemployed graduates.

The minister promised to study the BPE report with a view to implementing the recommendations and thanked the Working Group on RBDAs and BPE for the comprehensive report.

It would be recalled that in recognition of the critical importance of reforming the water resources sector, as a prelude to partial commercialisation of the RBDAs, the BPE obtained approval from the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, to constitute an inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary Steering Committee on RBDAs.

The committee comprised representatives of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, National Integrated Water Resources Management Commission, representatives of six RBDAs and other relevant stakeholders nominated by the NCP

Earlier, Onagoruwa said the Working Group, which is chaired by the BPE’s Acting Director of National Facilities and Agricultural Resources, NF&AR, Dr. Vincent Akpotaire, was at the behest of the immediate past Water Resources Minister following the approval by the NCP in September 2008, for a new framework for the commercialisation of public enterprises.

Onagoruwa said 12 River Basins were initially listed for partial commercialisation in order to entrench commercial principles, minimise financial dependence on the treasury and reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks in their operations.

She, however, noted that the objective was not achieved due to lack of commitment of parties at fulfilling the provisions of the performance agreement.

To achieve the earlier objective, the BPE boss said the Bureau was now adopting a two-pronged strategy of partial commercialisation and Public Private Partnership, PPP for some viable projects of the RBDAs.

They include Hadeija Jama’re; Sokoto-Rima; Ogun-Osun; Anambra-Imo; Lower-Niger; and Upper- Niger. The choice of the six RBDAs, she added, was determined by their great potential for PPP, geographical spread and level of development.