The House of Representatives on Tuesday mandated an ad hoc committee to investigate the impact of the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon on Nigeria’s environment.
It also mandated it to investigate the level of negligence on the part of the Nigerian Government that encouraged Cameroon to construct a dam on the River Benue.
The committee will further investigate and determine the appropriate amount of compensation that Nigeria should demand from the Government of Cameroon.
The resolution emanated from a motion moved by Rep. Robinson Uwak (PDP-Akwa Ibom) which was adopted without a debate.
According to Uwak, the dam, built in 1977 and 1982 , was originally to irrigate 15,000 hectares of farmland but the government went ahead to restructure it for electricity generation.
He said that for several years, the dam’s diversion during the dry season and over flooding during the rainy season, had negatively affected the economic viability of communities in Nigeria.
The legislator said that Nigeria, being the final country that discharged the Benue River into the sea, was not properly consulted by the government of Cameroon before the dam was constructed.
According to him, the livelihood of approximately 15 million Nigerians had been destroyed following the operations of the dam and estimated the cost of the destruction at five billion dollars.
Uwak maintained that the existence of the dam must be revisited, with the goal of assessing its real socio-economic and environmental impact on Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the House has urged the Federal Government to integrate 1,895 ex-militants from Abia into the Amnesty Programme.
This resolution was sequel to the adoption of the report of the Committee on Public Petitions.
More than 5,000 ex-militants from Abia had petitioned the committee over their non-inclusion in the Federal Government amnesty programme.
