HJRBDA to prosecute Jigawa farmers who breach its canal to siphon water
By Ali Baba-Inuwa
The Hadejia Jama’are River Basin Development Authority(HJRBDA) says it plans to take legal action against Jigawa farmers who are breaching its canal in Miga Local Government Area (LGA) of the State to siphon water to their farmlands.
The Managing Director, HJRBDA, Alhaji Rabiu Suleiman Bichi, said this when he spoke with newsmen in Kano, describing the action as an act of sabotage.
“We are taking legal action against the perpetrators; already we are working in tandem with security agencies to apprehend those behind the act and make them to face punishment for their action,” he said.
Bichi said that the farmers had allegedly been breaking the authority’s main canal that transport water to downstream users from Kano to the boarder of its catchment areas in Jigawa State and terminate at Chad River Basin in Yobe State.
He said the farmers’ action amounted to sabotaging President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda on Food Security.
Bichi said that the farmers’ action had caused serious damage to the main Canal, thus threatening the President’s Food Security Initiative.
He said that the authority was already collaborating with security agencies to apprehend the perpetrators and make them to face the consequences of their action in the court of law.
Bichi said that the main canal channelled water from Tiga River to a distance of about 350 Kilometers, but that the culprits breached the Canal at about 170 kilometers in Miga LGA of Jigawa State.
“The criminal act has caused the destruction of over 100 hectares of farmland which was flooded by the reckless action,thereby rendering farmers and their farm produce useless,” he said.
The Managing Director assured that the authority was working hard to repair the canal and block the breached area so as to stop the diversion and save the farmlands and allow smooth movement of water to its destination at Hadejia Barrage and further downstream.
HJRBDA to prosecute Jigawa farmers who breach its canal to siphon water
