… As Director says Water bill ‘ll empower states to regulate water resources within their catchment areas***
Mr Sule Abdulaziz, the Chairman, Executive Board of the West African Power Pool (WAPP), has reiterated the commitment of the pool towards completing the WAPP North Core Project.
Abdulaziz, who is also the Acting Managing Director, TCN, made this known at the 52nd WAPP Executive Board meeting in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, which was part of the 16th session of the WAPP General Assembly.
Mrs Ndidi Mbah, TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, in a statement in Abuja, on Friday, said that the North-Core transmission line project would link Nigeria with Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin.
While highlighting key project implementation updates, Abdulaziz said that “the WAPP North Core Project that seeks to interconnect Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin is in the implementation phase with the procurement process underway.
“The project is expected to be completed by 2023 and is part of efforts of the WAPP to integrate the power systems of West African countries by delivering priority projects, that would ensure that all 14 countries in the mainland of ECOWAS are eventually interconnected”.
He listed other projects undertaken within the West African sub-region to include the construction of the 330kV Volta (Ghana) to Lome ‘C’ (Togo) – Sakété (Benin) interconnection line that has been completed and would soon be energised.
Abdulaziz said that the WAPP Cote d’Ivoire – Sierra Leone – Guinea (CLSG) project would also be commissioned very soon.
He noted that WAPP had continued to take giant strides towards the effective operationalisation of the ECOWAS regional electricity programme, by continuing to harmonise the market rules and agreement by market participants on regulatory issues.
“This will ensure flexibility in the power system and increase trading opportunities for market participants, among others”, he said, while tasking members to be determined to attain the set goals of the pool.
He said that although a lot had been achieved under the current leadership of the pool, more still needed to be done, until the goal of the founding fathers was achieved.
Also speaking, the Secretary-General of WAPP, Mr. Siengui KI, urged members to be resilient, saying, “we must at all costs continue our journey towards the ultimate goal of our institution, which is the implementation of a competitive regional electricity market.
“ We absolutely must redouble our efforts to this end, the goal being, more than ever, within reach.
“The new Executive Council, will have to sit for the next two years and a new Vice-Chairman will be elected, as the former vice Chairman, Mr. Hamidou Traore has been re-designated”, he added.
Earlier, while welcoming participants to the meeting, Mr. Baba Coulibaly, the Director-General of Sonabel, the power firm hosting the meeting, called for more commitments.
“ In our sub-region, the stakes in the electricity sector are so high that we must rigorously ensure that the decisions are implemented on time”, he said.
In the meantime, Mr Bashir Magashi, Executive Director, Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission (NIWRMC), has said that the water resources bill, when passed into law, would grant states the right to regulate water resources within their catchment areas.
Magashi told the newsmen, in an interview on Friday, in Abuja, that passing the bill, won’t harm waterfront communities, but would give them a better regulatory advantage and promote synergy with the government.
“The objective of the Bill is to ensure that the nation’s water resources are regulated, protected, used, developed, conserved and managed equitably, providing an enabling environment for women and children to have easy access to water sources”, he said.
According to him, Section 2(2) of the water resources bill gives the states the power to regulate the water resources that flow within the state, by which they can set up their own regulatory agencies.
“Also, section 27(3) of the Bill empowers the Commission to have Catchment Management offices in each of the hydrological areas, which makes for easy synergy with the River Basin Development Authorities and states and the formation of Catchment Management Committees (CMCs) with the stakeholders in the catchment”, added.
Bashir also stated that the bill provided for effective and efficient synergy between the Federal and State-owned regulatory bodies, down to the Local government level, to enhance Integrated Water Resources Management in the country.
“Section 12 of the Bill provides for the Honourable Minister, in consultation with the Federal Executive Council, by notice in the Gazette, establish a Committee to coordinate the implementation of any international agreement.
”Either entered into by the Federal Republic of Nigeria and a foreign Government or any international body or organization relating to investing, managing, monitoring and protecting Water resources amongst others.
“The Minister shall also consult with all affected states, prior to entering into any international agreement.
“This bill, when passed into law, will also aid Public-Private-Partnership between stakeholders in the water resources sector and solve the issue of indiscriminate drilling of boreholes, the cause of the reported earth tremor”, he added.
“ It is evident that the Bill would be of great benefit to the River Basins, through its effective implementation”, Magashi further said.
