FG stops river Niger dredging

[bakangizo]

Shege,wa zai yi wa wayo?
An dauke mu mahaukata.

Goga kenan. Irin wannan kishin arewa da kake nunawa, ai na ke jin rabon da a ganshi tun lokacin su Sardauna 

But there's one thing I want people to understand. Not everything you read on the papers is as it is. When I first heard it, I said to myself , "Can he be this stupid? Even if he has an agenda, isn't the timing wrong? Didn't he know the sensitivity of of the issue? Why would he divert the fund for the dredging when the FG can get it from other sources?" So, I'm not fully convinced it is as straight as the media want to portray it. He has given his explanation, as posted by muhsin.

Yeah, I believe the Yorubas are keeping mum on the issue because it is one of theirs (Obasanjo) that schemed the whole thing.

Ni kuwa ina tunani.
Arewa na da wata agenda kuwa?
Maybe we should form the agenda here and make it public.

Muna da agenda mana. Ajandar mu a Arewa ita ce shiririta da kwadayi.

[gogannaka]

BKGZ hara da mocking....lol

Please read through the archives of the newspapers and see how it was reported.
The southern media ignored the story at first till after it raised controversy.
They were the first to however, give the damage control story relevance.

I would implore you to read the first statement and second statement. It makes absolutely no sense.

[bakangizo]

I would implore you to read the first statement and second statement. It makes absolutely no sense.

Anya kuwa?  Ni gani nake kamar it makes some sense.

1st sttmt; So today, the Acting President directed that the N19 billion intervention fund should be passed to the Ministry of Niger Delta from the Ministry of Finance for this shoreline protection initiative.

2nd sttmt; The special intervention fund was supposed to be for the dredging of that part. So instead of using it to dredge now which will cause greater challenges, you know when dredged, the water channels become deeper, flows become faster and it will actually impact more on the shores of the communities. So it is that fund that is to be redeployed to protect the shorelines according to the request of the communities

I think the key point here is that the dredging is actually for a place situated there. So the fund was moved to shoreline protection, instead of dredging the same area. He may be harbouring some hidden agenda, but I'm sure on this one.

[Sani Danbaffa]

Gaskiya ne fa! Manyan Arewa da hadama yara da lalaci! Ai sai wani ya zo ya fassara waqoqin Shata da na Dan Maraya tukun za a farka daga barcin da a ke. Allah kyauta!

[gogannaka]

Chairman of the  South-South Parliamentary Caucus, Honourable  Andrew Uchendu (PDP/Rivers)  had invited the NIWA boss  and his team to brief the lawmakers from the  Niger Delta region on the project following growing concerns by several coastal communities that the   project was  going to have  negative impacts  on  marine  life, environment   and  the general ecosystem of the region. Uchendu said the meeting had become necessary because of the need to ascertain if proper Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was conducted before the project commenced. An update on the project, he said, would not only allay  the fears of the coastal communities but would also enable the Caucus draw the attention of NIWA  on the need to put in place  necessary mitigations such as  the construction of concrete embankments  to protect the shoreline.
“We hear that the dredging is causing severe impact downstream leading to deposition of harmful dredged material that affects fishing in some communities. We are also told that dredging may affect the water level of the tributaries of the Niger especially during the dry season and we wonder how true these complaints are”, Uchendu said.

In a presentation before the Executive Committee of the Caucus, the NIWA boss said work has reached advanced stages on some sections of the dredging project, adding that on the average; about 50% completion rate has been achieved across the five lots of the project. According to Aminu, the construction of the inland ports at Onitsha, Oguta, Idah and Baro would facilitate cargo movement from the coastal ports of Warri, Port Harcourt and Lagos to the hinterland.

He allayed the fears of the coastal communities, insisting that the contractors responsible for the project were working under the strict terms of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out in 2002. The EIA, he said, has also taken care of the disposal of the debris generated in the course of the dredging. He said that so far the project has been environmentally friendly as NIWA had engaged a team of consultants for the Environmental Management and Monitoring Plan to ensure periodic impact mitigation and post-dredging monitoring.

[HUSNAA]

This is an interesting topic and I am wondering why I never read it. hmm. I have never read the technicalities of dredging the river niger (it wouldnt interest me anyway, ironically enough), so i am only going to comment on my thoughts on the situation which by the way may not be correct at all

[HUSNAA]

Right, lets cut our noses to spite our faces. Lets  dam the river niger so that the downstream community i.e. the niger deltans get the short end of the stick after all  the  niger river forms the deltaic region of the coastal area. So if it doesnt flow downstream, the riverine regions of the delta will be negatively impacted upon.