Nigerian Government partners with Israeli government on water supply

Sarah Ochekpe, Minister of Water Resources

Nigerian Government partners with Israeli government on water supply

The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, on Monday solicited the cooperation of the Israeli Government to boost water supply in Nigeria.

She made this known in Abuja, the nation’s capital during a courtesy call by the Israeli Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Moshe Ram.

The minister commended the Israeli Government for its leading role in agriculture and water technology and also its willingness to share the knowledge with Nigeria.

Managing water resource

Ochekpe said the ministry needed to know more on how to manage water because ‘we have long period of rainfall in most parts of Nigeria this year while some other parts have no rainfall.’

“The ability to manage water resources has its major challenges, we have recognised the fact that we need to take responsibility for every natural resource God endowed us with”, she said. 

Transforming the agriculture sector

According to her, the present administration is determined to transform the agricultural sector.

“Nigeria is blessed with a lot of arable land and water resources to produce food, yet we spend a lot of money on importation of food. We need to improve on our agricultural produce to reduce the rate of food importation'', she said.

Speaking earlier, Ram said that Israel did not have enough water but that the country managed its water well for it to go round.

According to him, more than half of the water in Israel is recycled water and it is used for irrigation of fields.

“Israel is one of the leading countries in exporting agricultural produce and less than three per cent of the population earn their living through agriculture, with the help of modern technology'', he said.

Ram said the major problem Nigeria had was how to manage water properly, which also included moving water to areas where there was scarcity.

Capacity building scheme

“In Israel there is an intensive campaign on how to save water and the importance of water, which is one of the main achievements in the country'', the ambassador said.
  
He said the Israeli Government donated 20 irrigation systems to local farmers in Minna, Niger State, to assist local farmers proffer solution to farmers’ problem.

The ambassador said that Israel was running a capacity building scheme, called “Management of Water Resources”, to train local farmers and engineers in Minna.

According to him, an exhibition and capacity building would be proposed to Nigeria to learn from Israel how to blend human and natural resources together for maximum benefit.

In spite of the super agricultural sector in Israel, he said Israeli farmers could still learn from Nigeria, based on the achievements in the sector.

“We do not know everything in Israel and cannot know everything because we are still in the process, so we can learn from you a lot”, Ram said.

 NAN/Chiamaka/Ekata