The newly appointed managing directors of the 12 River Basin Development Authorities in the country have assured the Federal Government of their commitment to repositioning the river basins to reduce poverty. 

The managing directors collected their appointment letters on January 7, from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

Some of them, who spoke to our correspondent after collecting their letters, said that they would use their wealth of experiences to transform the basins to create jobs and reduce poverty.

They promised to boost food production, export and enhance power generation through the implementation of irrigation and other agricultural activities in their various basins.

Managing Director of the Lower Niger River Basin Development Authority, Mr. Aduragba Abubakar, said that he would work toward the improvement of water resources to reduce poverty in the basin, covering Kwara and parts of Kogi.

He added that he hoped to achieve the feat through the development of irrigated land, supply of water to rural people and generation of electricity through dams located in the basins.

Also speaking, Mr. Jimmy Omoliki, the managing director of the Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority, spoke of his determination to implement projects within the basin.

“For me, it will not be business as usual. I will work to justify the position by coming up with programmes that will empower farmers and young graduates,’’ he said.

He urged the Federal Government to be consistent in policy formulation, noting that frequent reversal of policies had restricted the river basins from effective performance of their functions.

“The River Basin is being re-structured and re-organised for professionalism so there shouldn’t be any policy reversal again to ensure sustainability.

“We also need the support of other stakeholders in the sector to achieve the mandate of the river basins because we cannot do it alone,” Omoliki said.

Mr. Nnaa Aleru, managing director of the Niger Delta River Basin Development Authority, expressed his readiness to make the basin more productive to boost food production.

He promised to key into President Goodluck Jonathan’s vision to re-engineer and reposition the River Basin Authorities to reduce poverty.

“I hope to pursue these policies as spelt out by the Honourable Minister when I resume in my basin and I will also ensure that I come up with projects that will increase farmers’ yields,” Aleru said.

Speaking along the same vein, Mr. Suleiman Musa, managing director, Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority, promised to implement government’s policies as prescribed in the Charter, establishing the river basin authorities.

“I hope to achieve this through integrated water resources development, farmer support programmes as well as come up with vibrant empowerment programmes that will help tackle poverty,” Musa said.

He expressed optimism that the current repositioning of the river basins would enable the government to boost production, create jobs, generate electricity and provide water supply.

The managing directors expressed appreciation to Jonathan for appointing them to serve the nation.

Our correspondent reports that the formal inauguration of the management team of the12 River Basin Development Authorities is slated for yesterday.