….gives farmers hope to produce food

By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – IN a bid to boost agricultural activities and mitigate against impact of climate change, Nigeria and other member countries of the Niger Basin, Monday, resolved to recharge groundwater sources.

Speaking on the side lines of a two-day workshop tagged ‘The Regional Workshop on the Integrated Management of Groundwater Resources, IWRM, on the Project Improving Improving IWRM, Knowledge -based Management and Governance of the Niger Basin and The Iullemeden-Taoudeni/Tanezrouft Aquiver System, NB- ITTAS, organized by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory, OSS, and hostel by Nigeria, the Director General, Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, NiHSA, Umar Mohammed, assured and reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to the principles of integrated water resources management and regional solidarity.

Mohammed also highlighted the efforts made by NiHSA amd success recorded so far through its investment in water resources management and timely alerts given.

Meanwhile, the nine member countries of the Niger Basin include Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria.

The workshop which starts September 8, 2025 will end on September 10, 2025 has the following objectives; informing participants about the progress made at the pilot site; update on the intervention matrix; and present a roadmap for the remaining activities.

He said: “One of the important mandates of the agency, which is Nigeria Hydro Resources Agency, is to monitor and manage the transboundary waters, both surface and groundwater, which is the So now, this particular project that we are doing with OSS called ITTAS, we are trying to see how the groundwater in Sokoto Rima Basin has deflated or affected because of the deflation or the redirection of a river in Sokoto that affected the groundwater, which made the farmers there abandon their farm sites because there was no more groundwater.

“The groundwater level usually used to be at three, four meters, and because of this deflation of river or redirection of the river, the groundwater level became about 28 meters or thereabout, so it became so expensive for them to be able to access this groundwater. So NiHSA actually collaborated with the OSS to see how to recharge that groundwater, which would run about 80 per cent to 90 per down the project, and we have started to see the groundwater being recharged.

“The level now is moderately okay, even though it’s rainy season now. We wouldn’t really be sure of the rain, but I am sure after the rainy season, we will be able to see some remarkable recharge in those groundwaters.

“Actually, as we speak now, we are trying to do a pilot project with Niger State government for this water transfer to the water stress areas from the water log areas.

“We are working on that and we have done the studies. So now we have to see to strategize the implementation of that. So it’s very possible. We monitor how rivers flow and like in the case of this Sokoto, the river changed its course due to some environmental and climate change factors. So that was why the river took a different course and we are now reversing it back to its natural course, which the naturally the groundwater will be recharged.

“We have already recorded remarkable changes in terms of the water recharge and we are looking at the dry season to see that farmers get back to their farms.

Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the workshop, one of the Water Engineers at OSS, Soumaya Mouhli, explained that the essence of the workshop is to gather more information about the aquiver which over 30 million people have direct contact with.

“So we are here to discuss what we achieved, because when we begin in 2019, we don’t have any information really about the aquifer system, which is a very huge aquifer, 2 million of kilometers square and it touches 30 million of people.

“So we know more about this aquifer. We know the activities, which are contaminated the aquifer with the threat. We know the zone, which are contaminated with the pollution.

“We know how we can resolve the problem of water and access to water, especially with far zone. We can transfer water to this zone, especially to achieve target of the sustainable development goal, reliable to water and sanitation”, Mouhli said.

Also speaking member, Inter-Ministerial committee on Niger Basin-ITTAS, Prof Murtala Abubakar Gada, who said, “Most of our rivers are seasonal in nature. They dry up during dry season.So the recharge is only limited to wet season, which is just for two to three months in a year in the area.

“Yet ensuring that water is supplied within our major river there, which is the Sokoto River, will ensure the continuous recharge of ground water and the continuous supply of water to the inhabitants of those environments. That is the target.”