Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has expressed the need for robust partnership with the Ogun/Osun River Basin Authority as the agency toured ongoing projects across Osun State.
Addressing the delegation led by its managing director, Dr Adedeji Ashiru at the Government House, Osogbo, Adeleke solicited for a more robust partnership between the state and the agency given the massive programmes the authority is implementing across the state.
A statement by the governor’s spokesperson, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, stated that while responding to the state of the Iragbiji dam, Adeleke immediately directed relevant line ministries to work out measures to deploy the dam for irrigation purposes as proposed by the River Basin Authority.
He expressed surprise that the dam had not been used since it was handed over to the state government in 2018.
Ashiru had in his address listed several ongoing projects in Osun but specifically requested the governor’s action on the Iragbiji dam which he said the authority had completed and handed over to the state government in 2018.
He told the governor that the Iragbiji dam can be deployed for irrigation farming by the state government in line with the federal and state agenda for food security.
While approving the request Adeleke further directed the commissioner for Water Resources and Agriculture to visit the site for immediate assessment, lamenting unjustifiable neglect of such vital state assets.
