Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, has reiterated his ministry’s determination to support the Managing Directors and Executive Directors of the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) in Nigeria towards achieving their set objectives, bearing in mind that the RBDAs represent the key implementing arm of the ministry as well as serving as the mirror of its achievements.
The Minister stated this, Thursday, February 4, at a one -day interactive meeting of the Honourable Minister with the Managing Directors and Executive Directors of the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), in Abuja.
In his opening remarks, Engr. Adamu congratulated the CEOs on their well-deserved appointment or re-appointment, as the case may be, and reminded them that their appointment is a golden opportunity for them to contribute to the advancement of the reform agenda of the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, particularly, in the areas of Integrated Water Resources and River Basin Management, food security and job creation as encapsulated in the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan of the Government.
The Minister reminded the CEOs that “ the River Basin Development Authorities Act, 1986, as amended, vested the Authorities with the powers to undertake comprehensive development of both surface and underground water resources for multipurpose use, with particular emphasis on the development of irrigation, water supply, flood and erosion control infrastructure through construction, operation and maintenance of Dams, Lakes, Polders, Wells, Irrigation and Drainage systems.”
The Minister noted: “The Ministry is fully aware of the challenges facing the operations of the RBDAs, which include: financial indebtedness, paucity of funds, inadequate personnel as well as lack of operational tools and equipment. Therefore, the need for prudent management of the available resources cannot be over-emphasized.”
Engr. Adamu emphasized: “Today’s meeting is to enable us deliberate and set the agenda for the top management of the 12 RBDAs, given your fresh terms in Office as Managing Directors and Executive Directors.”
During the interactive session, he reminded the CEOs of their inherent capacity as enablers for the deployment of the Water Resources provisions in their specific catchments for job creation and food production, using the various flag-ship programmes he had inaugurated earlier, saying, “you have been given opportunity to add value to the Water Resources Sector.”
Earlier in her welcome address, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, represented by the Director overseeing the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Engr. Benson Ajisegiri, said that the River Basin Development Authority (RBDA)is a strategic parastatal of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the Federal Government with enormous responsibility, especially at this critical stage in our national life when the country needs to diversify, grow its economy through agriculture and for actualizing the declaration of Mr. President to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
• Tags: Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu, CEOs, RBDAs