Flood: FG constitutes committee to overhaul Alau, other dams

The federal government says there are plans to overhaul the Alau dam in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno, following the recent flooding that damaged many properties and displaced thousands of residents.

On September 9, Alau dam overflowed its bank and destroyed lives and properties in Maiduguri.

During a visit to the dam on Tuesday, Ali Dala, a director at the federal ministry of water resources and sanitation, said other critical dams facing similar challenges would also be assessed and overhauled.

Dala added that the federal government would raise the reservoir level of the Alau dam to avoid a recurrence of the disaster.

“President Bola Tinubu has approved an inter-ministerial technical committee for re-evaluation of dams in Nigeria,” he said.

“The membership is drawn from the works, housing, environment, budget, finance, and information ministries. The office of the national security adviser is also part of the team.

“This committee was formed as a result of the flood disaster that hit Maiduguri when the Alau dam collapsed.

“In the north-east, we are planning to look at the Giri dam; we did some study that revealed to us that the sedimentation level of about 40 percent of the life storage of that dam requires urgent attention.

“It is critical for us to do something about it because the available water will not be able to meet the needs it was originally planned for.

“We are also going to look at Dadin Kowa Dam, as it is equally critical. In the south, we shall look at the Ogbese multipurpose dam in Ekiti, the Oyan dam in Abeokuta, the Egbo dam and Adada dam in Enugu.

“We shall also assess Obudu dam in Cross Rivers and Nkari dam in Akwa Ibom.

“We will also be looking at the Bakolori dam in Sokoto state because studies show that it has good sediment level that needs to be desilted; we will look at that, write a report and make sure that the dam is desilted.”

The director added that disaster relief funds had been approved for the projects.