NIGERIA may soon commence work on the second phase of the NIGER-Hydrological Cycle Observing System (NIGER-HYCOS), an official of the National Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA), has said.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the News Agency of Nigeria, yesterday, in Abuja, that the second phase of the project would be for four years.According to him, the project is aimed at developing water resources and the fragile ecosystem of the River Niger.The objective of the project is to collect and analyze hydrological data through the establishment of a network of 105 hydrometric stations distributed among the nine-member countries of the River Niger basin.The project will also enhance the creation of reliable hydrological data bank and the dissemination of hydrological products (data and information) adapted to users needs, he said.The official explained that the second phase of the project would be modified to involve the assessment of both ground and surface water resources, noting that the first phase of the project focused only on the assessment of surface water.The execution of the project will help us to maintain our hydrological stations, expand our networks, intensify monitoring as well as install more hydrological stations.It will also help to manage our water resources very well to know the quantity of water to be harnessed at a particular time and for a specific purpose.With that, we can adequately plan based on the available hydrological information which will help us to predict flooding as well as monitor water releases from countries upstream of the Niger Basin in West Africa, he said.The official said that the project would also enable the agency ascertain the quantity of water required for irrigation, generation of hydropower and navigation, among others.On funding, the official said that the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) had written to some donor agencies for assistance to enable the NHSA to execute the project.According to him, the French Development Agency had donated three million euros to the nine-member states of the NBA to facilitate the implementation of the project.The fund, he said, would be disbursed to the member-states based on the size of their network stations, adding that the money represented 70 per cent of the fund needed to complete the project.The official described the achievements recorded during the first phase of the project as significant.He said the achievements included the establishment of the hydrological data bank and modernisation of data collection and transmission mechanism.He also listed the provision of computers and tools for data processing as well as manpower and capacity building, through trainings of both the national and regional coordinating and hydrological departments, among other achievements.
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