Dr Akintola Omogbodun

The River Ogun has its origins in Oyo North, the river offers abundant resources to the people of Oyo State. One of the resources is the lake created by the Ikere Gorge Dam. This dam is located on the River Ogun at Ikere Village, 28km northeast of Iseyin in Oyo State.

The lake can and should be put to use by the Oyo State Government, OYSG, for the supply of potable water to Iseyin and the surrounding region and such that water from the lake will not contribute significantly to floods in communities along the River Ogun downstream of the dam.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, NIMET, has issued forecasts indicating that the rainfall in Nigeria in 2013 would be as much as the rainfall in 2012 and in some places, the rainfall in 2013 is expected to be higher than the rainfall in 2012. Given the floods observed in 2012, the OYSG and other state governments should take steps immediately that would prevent future floods.

Fortunately, we are in a period when government is considering how to improve funding for water supply projects. Recently, the Presidency summoned a summit on Innovative Funding of the Water Sector. Before now, the European Union, EU, through its grants, has put into place an effective mechanism for the implementation of water and sanitation projects in Nigeria. With the EU mechanism, there are contributions from the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, the state government and the local governments in which a project is located in addition to the EU grant.

The Ikere Gorge Dam has not been completed, it has not been provided with gates that would make the maximum capacity of 565 million cubic metres of the water available in the lake. However, the volume of water available in the current lake is adequate for the Iseyin Regional Water Supply Scheme and the irrigation schemes that have been established by the Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority, OORBDA. Funding for the water supply scheme should be arranged with contributions from the FGN, OYSG, the local governments within the scheme area and loans should be obtained from the World Bank.

There are several reasons why the FGN should contribute towards the funding of this water scheme. The Ikere Gorge Dam was built by and is being managed by the OORBDA. One of the purposes of the dam is the production of 6MW of hydro-electric power for dam operations, irrigation systems operations, rural community electrification and the water scheme.

With the provision of gates at the dam, it would be possible to plan for power generation. Presently, under the existing laws, the OORBDA is not permitted to generate electric power. However the FGN and the OYSG can enter into a joint venture with a hydropower station operator for the installation, operation and maintenance of 6MW turbines at the dam.

The daily operation of a hydropower component at the dam will assist in regulating flows in the river downstream of the dam and will be a substantial factor in preventing floods in communities along the River Ogun all the way to the Lagos Lagoon.

Furthermore, the irrigation schemes associated with the Ikere Gorge Dam use diesel generators and there is a need to reduce the operational costs as an incentive to the participation of private and commercial farmers in the irrigation schemes.

The operations of the regional water scheme cannot also be based on diesel generators. An efficient water supply scheme has to be able to treat raw water, store and pump potable water for the 24 hours in a day. The FGN is involved in small power generation from winds and a small hydropower project at Ikere Gorge dam should also be executed.

The Middle Ogun Irrigation Project, located at Odo-Ogun near Iseyin, is one of the OORBDA projects. It was planned to cover an area of 12000 hectares with the land development over 3 phases. To date, only about 700 hectares has been completed for cropping by irrigation.

Construction and procurement contracts for the first phase development covering 3000 hectares were put in place more than 20 years ago. The delay in project completion increases the project costs thus making it difficult to complete the project.

The laws governing the operations of the River Basins Development Authorities has provision for an advisory committee whose membership includes the heads of the divisions for agriculture, irrigation, fisheries, forestry, veterinary services and livestock in the state ministries within the area of operation of an Authority.

The OYSG should through this advisory committee at OORBDA bring forward proposals for developing the land for rain-fed agriculture in areas not presently covered by the irrigation scheme. The Iseyin area has good agricultural soil that can provide for self-sufficiency in food production.

Some farmers in the area have over the years been organised to produce for a multi-national company. The objectives of government are often stated as including rural employment and integrated rural development. The implementation of the Iseyin Regional Water Scheme as described above will go a long way in meeting government’s objectives for the Iseyin area.