In this interview with BANKOLE TAIWO, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority, Dr Adedeji Ashiru speaks on allegations of abandonment of projects, plans for the Oyan and Ikere Gorge dams and other strides of the authority in the last two years.
It has been two years since you assumed office as MD/CEO of Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority. What do you regard as your strides thus far?
A lot has changed because of the determination of President Bola Tinubu to engender transformation in the authority and help drive the food production and security agenda of the current administration. When I assumed office, the first thing I did was a tour around the four catchment states of the authority, that is Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Lagos, to see the existing projects and facilities. For about two weeks, I moved from one site to another to check our assets and determine the future projects that will be executed. The Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority is responsible for managing water resources, including boreholes and surface water, as well as overseeing water reticulation and dam construction for irrigation purposes. We all know the importance of having access to clean water for healthy living and food production. So, to address the challenge of water scarcity, the authority has constructed over 400 solar-powered boreholes across the South-West. Though we have four catchment states, this provision of clean water was extended to Ondo and Ekiti States, thereby covering the entire Southwest.
Food security is uppermost in President Tinubu’s agenda, and central to this is all-year-round farming through irrigation during the dry season or when there is drought. As a result, we initiated the construction of approximately 12 dams. We have finished some, and some are still ongoing. This is to ensure that water is available for farmers. About three of the dams have been completed, while the remaining nine are at different stages – some at 70 per cent completion, others at 50 per cent completion.
But there have been reports that the dam projects have actually been abandoned.
That is misinformation; that is not true. None of the projects has been abandoned. Construction work, especially the construction of a dam, has a lot to do with the season. Construction work during the rainy season tends to be slow, and nobody wants to waste scarce resources. Dam construction is in different stages. There are things you can only do during the dry season, not during the rainy season. So, when the rain started, we had to stop most of these jobs. People don’t understand that, and because we left the site, they thought we had abandoned these projects. In fact, work is ongoing at most of the project sites presently. If you go to Akesan in Iperu, also to Ilaro, you will see work ongoing. So, the dam projects have not been abandoned. This is to address the issue of food security, and to also make clean water available through reticulation. Water reticulation, through piping, is one of the things we are also doing to support irrigation farming.
The authority is also not relenting to provide access roads to some farm settlements and rural communities to ensure that the farmers can bring their produce to the market unhindered. We have reconstructed the collapsed bridge at Ijaka, a community in Ogun State. We have equally awarded the 1.5km road for construction. The Camp-Alabata road is under the radar; the drainage on both sides of the road has been done in a particular area, and the road construction is also awarded. At Owakurudu in Ijebu Ode, the community battled an erosion challenge for 24 years, leading to loss of lives and properties. We intervened, and about 700 meters of drainage construction is ongoing. We’ve done up to 350m of that project. We, however, had to stop at a point due to heavy rainfall, but in about two to three weeks, the contractor will return to the site to finish the project.
What efforts is the authority making to ensure that two major dams, the Oyan Dam and Ikere Gorge Dam, are put to good use, particularly for power generation?
We are actually taking bold steps towards that direction. The two major dams were commissioned in 1983, that is, the Oyan Dam and the Ikere Gorge. Oyan Dam has a water volume capacity of about 217 million cubic meters, while Ikere Gorge has almost 600 million cubic meters of water. When it was commissioned in 1983, nine megawatt turbines were installed in the Oyan dam, but the six megawatt equipment for Ikere Gorge was only procured and put in the warehouse. They were not installed, and nothing happened at those two dams, where a lot of money was actually expended over 43 years ago. But, the good news today is that Ikere Gorge Dam has been given to a concessionaire. The team is already in Germany, working on the design of the equipment to be deployed to the dam for hydropower generation. The concessionaires are actually German.
This project will be in phases. The first phase will probably give about 136 megawatts to the national grid, though the dam has a capacity of generating about 250 megawatts. What has been moribund for about 43 years will soon roar back to life by the special grace of God.
Similarly, for the Oyan dam, the Ogun State government has equally shown interest in power generation. The governor has come to have a look at the dam. After the governor’s visit, some partners from France also came to check the dam. So work is ongoing to really turn things around and put these dams to good use 43 years after their construction.
How soon will these dams begin to contribute to our power generation, which has been poor?
Definitely, before the end of President Tinubu’s second term in office. Some of the things to be done, from designing to the installation of the power-generating equipment, will definitely take some time, but progress is being made.
What difference has the authority made in terms of food production, which is one of its core mandates?
In the area of food production, the authority has so far built 77 greenhouse farms across the four catchment states, thereby contributing to achieving the food security agenda of President Tinubu. We plan to also construct an additional 220 this year. These controlled farms are devoted to producing vegetables, peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers, among others. These farm products are pushed to the market at subsidised prices, and that has contributed to the reduction of prices of food items that we are currently witnessing. We are also building solar storage facilities. We have a prototype here in the authority, and we are building one in each of the states so that once we harvest our farm produce, we can put it in the storage facility. It is a controlled environment to prevent post-harvest losses. About two weeks ago, we deployed 16 tractors across the South-West region. We are hoping to deploy another set of 60 tractors with implements this year. This shows the commitment of the present administration to boost food production through mechanised farming. You can see that the concerns about the prices of food commodities have significantly come down. So, there is no denying that our series of programmes and interventions has helped to increase food production and cut down on prices. So, it’s safe to say that under President Tinubu, Ogun-Oshun is ensuring that no Nigerian goes to bed with an empty stomach. The slogan of the president has been that no Nigerian must go to bed hungry. You can see that the noise around hikes in food prices has really come down because the effort to achieve food sufficiency is real and multi-sectoral. I’m not saying we’ve got to where we’re meant to be, but we have made significant progress. A lot of effort is still underway. But I can tell you that the President is doing a lot to address the challenge of food insecurity. The Ogun-Oshun River Basin Development Authority has been playing a huge role in achieving this.
Meanwhile, we have 12 river basins that were established primarily for food security, but the truth is that they have not been funded by the past successive administrations to really achieve this goal. For instance, the highest budget for Ogun-Oshun before President Tinubu came on board was N21bn. However, things have changed under this present administration; the President has voted enough funds to the river basin so that it can achieve its mandate. In my first year alone here, we had about N61bn. That’s why we can embark on dams’ construction, build a greenhouse farm, and acquire mechanised equipment, among others. This year alone, our capital appropriation is about N57bn. It has never been like this at all. It is not as if the past administrations did not want to fund the river basins, but the funds that could have been used were used to pay for fuel subsidies. Fuel subsidy is a complete fraud. We thank our President for being courageous to stop subsidies, and that is why the river basins have the funds to embark on lots of initiatives and projects that have so far helped to boost food production across the country like never before.
You are a stakeholder in Ogun State politics. There has been agitation that the successor to Gov Dapo Abiodun should come from Ogun West. What is your take on this?
As far as I am concerned, all these conversations are hearsay because the party has yet to categorically make a statement on this. Gov Abiodun remains the leader of the party, and there has never been a meeting where the governorship seat was said to have been zoned to any part of the state. So, let’s wait for the party’s position. We shall await the instruction of Mr Governor on where we are going.
You ran for the Senate in 2019 and 2023. Are you joining the 2027 race?
A lot of people have posed the same question to me, probably due to our modest achievements in the authority within less than two years. We have been able to impact the people and communities for good, and we are ready to do so much more. I ran for the Senate in 2019 and 2023 because I wanted to serve, and here I am as the MD/CEO of Ogun-Osun River Basin Development Authority, doing the same thing, which is serving the people. I am not greedy, nor am I inconsiderate. I am grateful to Mr President for this confidence reposed in me, and I won’t fail to use the opportunity very judiciously to further raise the bar of achieving food security in the country.
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