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Updated Monday, November 9, 2009 11:08 am TWN, By Joel Olatunde Agoi, AFP

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Nigeria banks on River Niger to boost commerce and navigation

“The local riverine population also requires points of interface with voyagers for trading and transfer of goods to link more inland communities,” he said.

The exercise, to be completed in eight months, is solely funded by the government to the tune of 36 billion naira (240 million dollars, 163 million euros).

An environmental impact assessment (EIA) was a key demand of environmental campaigners.

NIWA spokesman Suleman Makama said villagers had been made aware of the benefits of the project before it began.

“Dredging will reduce flooding of farmlands around the river,” he said, adding that it would bring communities closer together and secure the flow of water to hydro-electric plants.

Kainji dam, Nigeria's largest hydro electricity power dam, relies on the Niger for water supply.

But silt in the river has limited capacity of the dam to generate power for the energy-starved country, which has a population of 140 million.

With a maximum capacity of 760 megawatts of electricity, Kainji currently produces under half at 350 megawatts.

Abiye Amadi, a spokesman for Dutch firm Van Oord, one of the four companies contracted to clean out the river, dispelled fears that communities along the water might be choked by the excavated silt during the dredging.

The government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo first awarded the contract to dredge the river in 2007 but work could not take off immediately due to a lack of funds and a court injunction granted to local activists, the Ijaw National Congress, which had insisted on an EIA report.

Yar'Adua's government re-awarded the contract last December. Environmental activist Nadari Banigo wants authorities to lessen the hardship the project might cause villagers living along the banks.

But Beki Apera, president of Bayelsa Youth Federation, now appreciates gains that could accrue from the opening up of the river.

“We once opposed the dredging, but now that we have been properly briefed on its benefits I will tell my people not to kidnap any worker on site,” he assured.

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