The National Expert meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission member nations has opened in Abuja.
This is in preparation for the 58th Session of the Council of Ministers of the Commission, which is expected to hold on Thursday.
Declaring the meeting open, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Alhaji Baba Umar Faruk, said the meeting would examine the status of the implementation of the 2012 programme of activities of the Commission.
It will also review the 2013 proposed programme and budget, with a view to making recommendations to the council of ministers.
“The objective of this meeting, among others, is to provide Lake Chad Basin Commission with a budget for the 2013 developmental programmes and recurrent budget for day to day running of the Commission,” Faruk said.
Faruk assured those at the meeting that the implementation of the projects of the Commission would impact positively on the lives of the people living within the basin areas, who are presently facing serious challenges with the shrinking of the lake.
He added that this had in recent times affected fishing, farming and animal grazing.
Amongst the agenda proposed by the Lake Chad Basin Commission are: Review of the 2012 report of the 57th Ordinary Session of the Council of Ministers, review of 2012 report of activities of the Executive Secretariat, Review of report of the financial controller, Review of External Audit Report of 2011 financial statement, review of the 2013 draft budget, review of memoranda submitted by the executive secretariat and adoption of the report of National Experts meeting.
A statement on Tuesday by the Deputy Director Press of the ministry, quoted Faruk as saying that if there are other issues that would add value to the operations of the LCBC, the experts would also include it in the agenda for adoption.
In his remarks, the Executive Secretary of the Commission, Engineer Sanusi Imran Abdullahi, stressed the need for all members’ state to pay up their financial obligations promptly.
Abdullahi disclosed that only the Republic of Chad had paid her financial obligations up to date.
“It is important to stress here that member countries need to meet their financial obligations to the Commission to earn the respect of our technical and financial partners,” he advised.
The member countries of Lake Chad Basin Commission are Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Libya.
Sarah Ochekpe is Nigeria’s Minister for Water Resources.
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