The minister of state for Water Resources and Sanitation, Muhammad Bello Goronyo, has expressed the intention of President Bola Tinubu-led federal government to properly harness the potential of River Basins in the across the country with a view to boosting crop productions and food security.
He stated this in an interview with journalists after he paid visits to the offices of Upper Benue River Basin Development Authority, Dadin Kowa Dam and irrigation sites in Gombe State.
According to him, the river basins can help the country to boost dry season farming and sufficient food production, thereby ensuring food security.
“Upper Benue River Basin happens to be one of the grade ‘A’ river basins in the country with enormous potential. If the potential are adequately utilised, we can cultivate enough food, create wealth, generate employment, reduce hunger and provide adequate security; because hunger is the number one factor that pushes people to insecurity,” he noted.
He, however, appealed to the Gombe State governor, Inuwa Yahaya, to support the federal government’s target of boosting crop production by increasing available cultivable lands along the river basins.
“I call on the state government to leverage on the opportunities availed by the partial privatisation of the river basins to maximize their usage through private partnership and other collaborative means for the economic growth and development of their state and the nation entirely,” the Minister added.
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