The Society for Water & Public Health Protection (SWAPHEP) campaign against dams in Nigeria

           2 articles written by The Comet newspaper in Nigeria 

2^nd April 2002 Government urged to resettle flood victims

 SWAPHEP, an NGO, has urged the Federal Government to resettle the flood victims in Kano, Jigawa, Niger, Kebbi and Kwara States occasioned by dam failure. Mr. Hope E. Ogbeide, SWAPHEP Director, in a communiqu he signed after a one-day seminar on lecture entitled Dams & Development in Nigeria, at Ken Saro Wiwa Gallery, Benin City, Edo State, to mark the International Day of Action against Dams, and for Water and Life, said that after due consultations with the victims to find out exactly what the victims want in terms of reparations, compensation and resettlement, the Federal Government should immediately resettle them. Mr. Ogbeide added that the government should discontinue the construction of dams across Nigerian rivers and water sheds. Stating that instead, they should ensure the proper management and maintenance of existing dams. He advised all dam sponsors in Nigeria to withdraw their support to dam projects and rather direct their financial aid to alternative power and water supply projects that are sustainable, environment and people-friendly and equally meet the specific needs of the Nigerian people. In addition, he stated that the Nigerian government and its development partners should put adequate investment into research studies on the impact of dams on the ecological balance of the Nigerian environment and researches aimed at improving on traditional methods of water treatment and energy supply that are cheap, sustainable and clean enough to help reduce the problems of environmental destruction and colossal loss of lives associated with such gigantic projects of dams.SWAPHEP urged the government, NGOs and development agencies to generate more awareness on dams and its place in the process of development in the country. 

15^th 0ctober 2002  N40b GURARA DAM Group Expresses Fear of Ecological and other damages 

Possible human damages and ecological problems have been anticipated to happen from the Abuja Gurara Dam contract worth over N40 billion signed by the Federal Government. The Executive Director of Society for Water & Public Health Protection (SWAPHEP), Mr. Hope E. Ogbeide while celebrating the United Nation's World Disaster Day in Benin City said, what was the Federal Government rationale for such a gigantic N40 billion water project proposed to convey water from Kaduna State to Abuja through the laying of 70 kilometer pipelines. Mr. Ogbeide said that Federal Government should conduct enough optional assessments to determine whether Gurara water Dam is the best option available for Abuja. The water project has been described as the largest Federal Government commitment to water.  Mr. Ogbeide said that against the background that dams have done so much ecological and human damages in the last three years in the country, adding that the best option has not been exploited. In his words: we know what happened in Niger State 1999, when Kainji dam over flooded the bank and so many lives were lost. August 2001, the disaster in Kano and Jigawa States over 20,000 people were displaced. About 300 villages were destroyed and over 350,000 farmlands submerged while Tiga and Challawa dams had also failed too. 

Contact

swaphep@yahoo.com

 SWAPHEP

SWAPHEP, with the support of Global Funds organised an NGO/Civil Society dialogue on the report of the World Commission of Dams Dialogue on the 22^nd May 2003 in Benin City, Nigeria.

The main observations and recommendations from the dialogue session were:

The work of the WCD was commended as it sufficiently addresses the problems associated with Dams in Nigeria and the world at large, and called for its adoption by all stakeholders in particular governmental authorities, as a basis for designing and implementing water and energy projects among other projects in the country.

The session noted the potential of the strategic framework adopted by the WCD report for resolving conflicts and calls on the governmental authorities to adopt the principles and guidelines.

The dialogue called for the immediate conduct of comprehensive Post Impact Assessment (PIA) on all existing projects

Concerns of the communities around Ojirami Dam in Edo State were noted and their call for a stakeholders meeting addressing their grievances and changing the name of the dam to reflect all the communities was endorsed.

The dialogue called for the immediate settlement of all outstanding compensation claims arising from water, river basin, dams and energy projects in Nigeria.