From Desmond Mgboh, Kano
Kano State Governor, Abba Kabiru Yusuf has appealed to the Federal Government to take urgent steps to revive no fewer than 21 small and large scale dams in the state, saying they were in a state of disrepair.
The Governor raised the alarm, Tuesday, during a courtesy call by the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Jospeh Terlumum Utsev at the Government House.
Represented by his Deputy, Aminu Abdulsalam Gwarzo, he insisted that the dams which were built about over 40 years ago were in urgent need of rehabilitation.
He stressed that,” Successive governments constructed about 21 dams in Kano with the intention of boosting irrigation farming and providing an all year farming, creating empowerment opportunities in the agricultural value chain as well as catering for drinking water.
” However, most of these dams are not only old, but technically and structurally defective. Though we have tried to make repairs within our limited resources, for proper restructure, we need the attention of the Federal Government to turn the dams around”.
He explained that the state government has embarked on steps to harness its water resources potentials adding that with their meager resources, they were developing over 1000 hectares at Watari Jakara irrigation scheme for the purpose of all seasons farming.
The Minister, in his remarks, revealed that he was in Kano to inspect the various Federal government projects on water, assess their challenges and evolve proper means to reactivate them.
“We are here to assess the level of work especially on River Basin projects. Our vision is to strengthen capacity and increase funding on the project to ensure effective discharge of required responsibility. We are also seeking collaboration with state government in the area