Ndume secures N600 million to complete dam project in Borno
By Njadvara Musa, Maiduguri
Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume has secured N600 million from the 2024 Federal budget to complete the Biu dam project in Borno state.
According to him, the budgetary allocation; was to resume work and complete the abandoned water project initiated by the Mohammed Goni administration in 1979.
Unfolding the prolonged abandonment on Thursday, at his Government Reserved Area (GRA) residence in Maiduguri, he disclosed: “The 45-year abandoned Biu dam was to address the perennial water scarcity in the various communities in the area.
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“Unfortunately, the multi-million-naira project is yet to see the light of the day by successive federal and state governments.”
Ndume, who is the Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Appropriation, said that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources had earlier proposed N160 million in this year’s budget for the abandoned water project.
He noted that he had to personally revisit the issue by using his good office to lobby and secure an additional N600 million.
The legislator, who serves the Borno south senatorial district, said: “The secured additional funding has been approved for the contractors to move to the project site in Biu local council.”
He said that the completion of the dam will serve the entire Biu emirate, comprising Hawul, Kwaya/Kusar and Bayou local council areas with a population of about two million.
Besides the overcome of water supply challenges, he added: “The completion of the project will provide farmers with irrigation facilities to boost food security and livestock production with several water-points.
He noted that the creation of jobs from the completion of dam, is also in line with President Bola Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope Agenda.”
“Even though the dam was a joint-funded project by the Federal and Borno State governments,” he noted, the water project was abandoned by successive governments.
Ndume, therefore, urged Governor Babagana Zulum to key into the water projects, as the Governor is passionate on people’s plights in rural areas.
He continued; “The completion of the water project, will also complement the drilled 40 boreholes I had personally in the various communities of Biu emirate.
“The total budgetary provision for the Biu dam project this year is N767 million. Henceforth, I will ensure that there will be an annual federal budgetary provision, until the water project is completed by the end of Tinubu administration in 2027.
