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Despite multi-million naira investment Zauro Polder irrigation project abandoned in Kebbi

When the federal government commenced the Zauro polder irrigation project in 2007, the hope of the farmers in the community was that the project would ease irrigation farming. However, over 15 years after, the project is yet to see the light of day, exposing farmers in the community to more difficulty. The ICIR’s Nurudeen Akewushola reports.


Zauro Polder irrigation project is a joint venture project between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Kebbi State which was targeted at developing an irrigation scheme within the Fadama area of Argungu and Birnin Kebbi covering about 10,572 hectares of farmland.

The project is expected to ease farming in Kebbi communities and generate employment opportunities and increase the country’s food production.

According to a 2017 verification report by the fiscal responsibility commission, a body saddled with promoting transparency and accountability in the government’s financial management, the project has been abandoned despite multi-million naira spent on it.

According to the report, the project contract was signed between the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and CGC Nig. Ltd. at the contract figure of N18,585,949,298.53 on May 22 2007, and an advance payment of ₦3,975,586,275.00 was paid to the contractor.

In 2016, N207,585,600.00 was appropriated for the project, but only ₦157,000,000.00 was released and utilised according to the report.

However, despite the budgetary allocations, the investigation by The ICIR shows that the project has not been completed in over 15 years despite the immense benefits it could have been for the people of the community.

The project site of Zauro Polder Irrigation Project

When The ICIR visited the site of the project in Birnin Kebbi in November 2022, there was no visible infrastructure on the ground, and there was no signage indicating that the project has been executed or is still ongoing.

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Peasant farmers frustrated

Peasant farmers who spoke with The ICIR in Zauro town narrated how they struggle to facilitate farmland irrigation despite billions of naira spent by the Federal Government on the construction and provision of the irrigation system.

The farmers in Zauro cultivate rice, millet, watermelon and other Agricultural product. They narrated how they spend a large chunk of their income on manual irrigation systems and boreholes despite the scarcity and high cost of fuel in the country.

A section of the river gradually drying as dry season approached in November, 2022

Expressing his frustration, Umar Bawa, a peasant farmer in Zauro said the failure of the government to complete the project is creating a crisis for the farmers as the river dries faster than before. 

Umar Bawa

“What they told us is that they would build a dam that will help farmers to do irrigation, but yet the project remains incomplete for reasons not known to us, and our expectation is that the project is meant to reserve water to help us to do irrigation farming.

“Before they brought this project, water can last long within the Fadama during the rainy season, but now there’s rapid drying of water. This is because the project remains abandoned.

“If the Federal Government can intervene to complete this big project, many irrigation farmers will be happy, for example, places like Mafara of Zamfara and Kano State have similar issues, but their governments build a dam to enable irrigation farming where they create mutual benefits between the farmers and the government whereby the farmers are paying taxes to the government for the maintenance of the dam, and if our government can do so, we can feed ourselves, state and neighboring state,” he said.


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Fifty-six-year-old Muhammad Sani Sardauna explained that before the project was initiated, people normally travel to nearby villages such as Gulma, Birnin lafiya, Sawwa, among others, with the aid of boats but that cannot happen anymore due to rapid drying of the river.

Sardauna

Sardauna added that if the government completes the project it will help irrigation farming as farmers will be using the dam as a source of water for their farms.

One of the leaders of the farmers in the community, Bagudu Bahillace, 60, explained that the project has been long planned, and it was revived by the former senator in the state, Adamu Aliero, but it was unfortunately stopped.

Bagudu also explained that he relied on watering machines and local boreholes as a source of water as the uncompleted project now causes rapid drying of the Fadama area.

Bagudu

Bugudu reflected on several attempts to reach the government, which proved abortive. With a voice that reflects loss of hope, he said: 

“I don’t have any call to the government because, we tried several times, but it proved very abortive. We don’t have trust in government’s interventions because they do not fulfil their promises.

Nigerian government and failed interventions

Irrigation practices enable year-round farming, but several Nigerian farming communities still lack quality irrigation.

Farmers find it difficult to access water for dry season farming even as the federal government spends billions of Naira on dams and irrigation projects.

Nigeria is endowed with vast Arable land. A total of 3.4 million hectares of land has irrigation potential in Nigeria. A large part of it is in the North. However, only 169, 718 hectares currently benefit from the irrigation practice despite acute food insecurity in the country.

In most rural communities in Nigeria such as Zauro town, farmers are often jobless during the dry season due to a lack of access to water. 

Zauro irrigation project joined the list of several abandoned government dams and irrigation projects which are not beneficial for the residents.

A 2018 investigative series by The ICIR  detailed how farmers struggle to access water for dry season in several parts of the country despite billions spent on dams and irrigation projects. Similarly, a 2021 investigation exposed how irrigation project wastes away in Bauchi, Jigawa and Kano states

In 2022, The ICIR investigation exposed how the abandoned Katanga dam in Nasarawa threatened livelihood and how the uncompleted Shagari dam causes trouble for residents of Sokoto.

Contractor evades scrutiny

As earlier stated, Zauro polder Irrigation project was awarded to CGC Nigeria Limited in 2007 at a contract sum of N18 billion. 

The CGC Nigeria Limited is a Chinese company headquartered in Abuja. A search on the website of the Corporate Affairs Commission shows that the company is inactive. Though it was not certain whether the company was active when it was awarded the project in 2007.

A further search on NG Check shows that it’s a company registered on December 8, 1992, with a registration number RC 210299. It was incorporated in Kaduna.

CGC Nigeria Limited office

The company specialises in Borehole Drilling and Water Works with its registered office address located in Plot 3016 Katampe Hill, Kubwa Road, Abuja.

Information on its LinkedIn says it specialises in the construction of Roads and Bridges, Agriculture, Mining, Water Supply, Irrigation, Drilling, Real Estate, Manufacturing and Trade and it has about 1000 employees.

The Directors of the company are Ji Weimin, Ye Shuijiin and Li Xuhui.

This reporter visited the office of the company in Abuja to submit an FOI request about the details of the project and to speak with the contractor on how the company spent N3bn it received and why the project failed, but this reporter was denied access to the company despite valid proof of being a journalist which was provided upon request.

Copy of FOI request sent to CGC Nigeria Limited

A security man who identified himself as Musa Aliyu confirmed the reception of the letter on January 9, 2022 and told this reporter contractors said they would contact The ICIR, but there is no response as of press time.

The FOI Act (FOIA) 2011 states that response to information requests should be made available promptly, but in any event, not later than seven days from the date of receipt of the request.

Section 2(7) of the act provides that the act is applicable to private companies such as CGC Nigeria Limited utilizing public funds or providing public services or public function.

The ICIR earlier reported how failure to complete multi-million naira Shagari dam awarded to the company is creating an outsized crisis for villagers in Sokoto.

Ministry fails to respond

On November 17, 2022,  The ICIR wrote a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to establish the details of the projects and two other projects that were facilitated by the ministry.

The required information includes the contract description, the date of advertisement and media organisation the notice was placed, the approved threshold, procurement method, the bid opening date, name of the contractor, and the date the contract was awarded.


Others are the contract period, contract value, budgetary provision, amount paid for the contract, and the level of completion of the projects.

The letter was acknowledged but it’s only the details of one project in the letter that was acknowledged; the remaining two were not responded including details of Zauro polder Irrigation project.

This reporter visited the ministry of water resources five times to follow up with the request, and it was confirmed that the letter has been delivered to the office of the Director of Irrigation. However, this reporter was always asked to check back again anytime he visits the ministry.

File showing the reception of The ICIR letter by ministry of water of resources on November, 22.

On January, 23 this reporter visited again, but the officials in the office again said he should check back as one Engineer Usman who was supposed to provide the details was not on the seat. This reporter asked for his contact details, but the officers refused to disclose it.

The ICIR has earlier reported how Nigerian government agencies flout the FOI Act despite annual budgetary provisions and how it could hamper accountability governance in Nigeria.




     

     

    Copy of the FOI request sent by The ICIR to the Federal Ministry of Health

    The FOI Act provides that a response to the request of an applicant should be submitted within seven days, with a reminder of an additional seven days. Otherwise, such agency of government is considered to have breached the law.

    Section 2 Subsection 4 of the Act states that such public information as requested by The ICIR should be “widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources, and at the offices of such public institutions.”

    Section 4(b) of the act states that in a case where a public institution such as the ministry of water resources considers that the application should be denied, the institution shall give written notice to the applicant that access to all or part of the information will not be granted, stating reasons for the denial, and the section of this Act under which the denial is made. However, the ministry do not provide any justification.

    The FOI Act was signed into law on 28 May 2011 to make available, more freely, public information, and protect such information in order to promote accountability in government and aid the decision-making process but public institutions such as the ministry of water resources have continued to disregard the provisions of the law.

    Nurudeen Akewushola is an investigative reporter and fact-checker with The ICIR. He believes courageous in-depth investigative reporting is the key to social justice, accountability and good governance in society. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 on Twitter.

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