Amidst plans by the Federal Government to allocate fresh funds for conducting integrity tests on all dams in the country, findings by The PUNCH have shown that a total sum of N179.77bn was allocated for the construction and rehabilitation of dams across the country over the past 10 years.
This is according to an analysis of budgetary allocations disbursed to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and other related agencies between 2015 and 2024.
This amount indicates that significant financial resources have been committed to improving the nation’s dam infrastructure.
However, the recent collapse of the Alau Dam may suggest that the funds allocated for it may not have been properly disbursed to the implementing agency or used effectively.
The appropriation budget was used for this report because documents of budget implementation report were not available.
The PUNCH reports that the forced focus on government spending on dams emerged after a flooding incident that overtook 50 per cent of Maiduguri following the failure of the Alau Dam.
This incident, triggered by several downpours, resulted in catastrophic flooding in Borno State, claiming over 30 lives and displacing at least 400,000 people.
The dam, built in 1986 to serve irrigation and domestic water needs in Maiduguri, affected Kebbi, Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina, Kwara, and Plateau, as well as parts of Cameroon after its collapse.
Experts say the dam collapse was bound to happen as the authorities had turned a deaf ear to prior warnings from environmentalists in and around the region.
According to the experts, there had been cracks in the dam’s walls, and erosion had taken over the embankments, a result of years of abandonment, which weakened its structure.
Similarly, a former Director of Northeast Development Commission, David Kente, had warned that the Alau Dam was in a precarious condition and on the brink of collapse, adding that the region could face even more catastrophic flooding without urgent repairs after the rainy season.
