Nigeria: Federal Government warns, "River Niger is drying up"

(AGI) - Lagos, Sep. 14 - Nigeria's Federal Government has raised the alarm that River Niger is drying up and to save the river from the fate that befell Lake Chad, the government, along with countries bordering it, have approved the environmental audit of the river. Confirming the development in Abuja, Tuesday, the Acting Auditor of the Federation (AuGF) Mrs. Florence Anyanwu, noted that countries bordering the river have approved the environmental audit of the river and that commencement of the audit of hone of the longest rivers in Africa will begin at the end of the meeting in Abuja. According to her, "talks are ongoing on the cooperative environmental audit project on River Niger by Niger Basin Authority, consisting of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d' Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Nigeria," as she lamented that the drying up of the River Niger posed social, environmental and economic treat to the communities bordering the river. When completed, the environmental audit of River Niger will afford the governments the information they need to save the river from further deterioration as well as ensure its continued benefit to bordering communities. On the Lake Chad that has significantly lost a large portion of its body of water, chair of the 6th Annual Meeting of African Organization do Supreme Audit Institutions Working Group on Environmental Audit (AFROSAI WGEA), Mrs. Mbah Acha Rose Fomundam said the environmental audit report of the Lake Chad has been sent to the governments of the four countries surrounding the lake to come up with laws to save the river from total evaporation. Lake Chad is a shallow lake that ordinarily should be fed with constant rain but, environmental challenges have seen the lake suffer from sustained drop in the volume of rain fall feeding the lake and a growing population that depends on the lake for water, fishing and agriculture. (AGI) .