Lake Chad Basin Commission member-countries to step up water carriage

(Chad Basin Commission Reports) The speakers of Lake Chad Basin Commission member – countries which comprises of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Central Africa Republic and Libya have renewed their efforts towards revitalizing the shrinking Lake Chad Basin.
 
The Speakers / Presidents of the member-countries have also during the first meeting of their National Assemblies of Member Countries organized on the platform of its Regional Parliamentary Committee deliberated on issues bordering on protocol and reviving  the shrinking Lake Chad Basin.
 
The meeting recalled that the Lake Chad Basin which covered about 25,000 sq kilometres in 1964 has reduced to only about 1, 500 sq kilometres presently, thereby resulting to lose in such means of livelihood as fishing, farming and other economic and social activities within the Lake Chad Basin for over thirty million people living there.
 
While declaring the event open, the Speaker of the House of Representative of Nigeria, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal said that the committee was  established in 2004 and re-inaugurated in 2013 in Niamey, Niger Republic to create partnership ventures towards developing the entire Lake Chad and its ecosystem.
 
“Our Committee was established with clear mandates towards supporting the LCBC as the sub-regional body responsible for the integrated management of the Lake Chad Basin resources in particular and facilitating regional peace, cooperation and security in the basin areas. I wish to assure all and sundry that our committee and all the legislative arms of the LCBC member-countries are fully committed to these objectives,” he said.
       
He added that the committee would work closely with Presidents and Heads of Governments of LCBC countries, the Commissioners of LCBC as well as its executive secretariat in addressing the natural and man-made challenges facing the Lake Chad Basin.
 
In her remarks at the event, Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Reng Ochekpe represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Baba Umar Faruk said that Nigeria has granted $5 million dollars out of the $6 million required to carry out the feasibility study of the inter – basin water transfer from Ubangui River to Lake Chad, in order to recharge the receding lake. He added that the report has been adopted by the Heads of State and Governments of the Commission due to efforts from the Nigerian government.
 
Sarah Reng Ochekpe indicated that further analysis aimed at investigating the retention capacity of the lake will be required to guarantee sustainable water transfer efforts. She disclosed that a donor conference has been scheduled to hold from April 4 – 5, 2014 in Bologna, Italy to mobilize the required funds for programs that will boost the management of water flow into the Lake Chad.
 
Ochekpe also congratulated the parliamentarians on their efforts to restore the glory of the Lake Chad Basin as well as sustain its development.