The federal government has developed and installed 280 hydro-meteorological stations in the country to boost the storage, analysis, and dissemination of hydro-meteorological information.
Minister of Water Resources, Prof. Joseph Utsev, made this known yesterday during the 30th Regular Meeting of the National Council on Water Resources and Sanitation in Abuja.
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He said a total of 482 stations have been earmarked for Nigeria by the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage, stressing that the federal government would add at least 20 new stations annually.
Prof. Utsev expressed the government’s commitment to hydropower projects through public private partnerships (PPP) for clean electricity generation and job creation.
To this end, he stressed that the federal government has commissioned the 40-megawatt Dadin Kowa Hydropower Project in Gombe State, the Kashimbila Multipurpose Dam in Taraba State, among others.
The minister, who called for states and local governments to join the irrigation farming drive of the current administration, said the time has come to transition from traditional agricultural methods to a modern technological approach for greater productivity and food security.
He added that the government is developing 15,000 hectares of irrigation farmland to be handed over to farmers by the end of the first quarter of this year, while 500,000 hectares would be added by 2030.
The FCT minister, Nyesom Wike, represented by the permanent secretary, Dr. Udoh Samuel Atang, expressed commitments to the attainment of SDG 6, which is sustainable water and sanitation for all by 2030.