UNIVERSITY OF ABUJA

SCHOOL OF POSGRADUATE STUDIES

CIVIL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

M.Eng. WATER RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

TITLE: CIE 833- Water Law, Management and Economics Assignment I

NAME:

MATRIC. No.:

DATE: September, 2019.

Name of Dam: Dadinkowa Dam, Yamaltu Deba L.G.A. Gombe State.

Dam Location: Dadinkowa dam is located at about 37 km from Gombe town and
about 5 km North of Dadin Kowa village in Yamatu- Deba L.G.A of Gombe state, it
shares common boundary with Akko L.G.A in both the south and west, Yamaltu-Deba
to the East and Kwami to the north. The Dam is situated between latitude 10° 19' 19’’N
and longitude 11° 28' 54’’E of the equator. The Dam was constructed in 1987. It was
derived from River Gongola and has a surface area of 300Km2. It has a storage
capacity of 1.77 billion cubic meters.
The Dam is Earth and Rock fill (1x106 m3), whose height is 42 meters above deepest
foundation with an impervious core. The dam length is 520 meters, width of crest is 8
meters while the width of the base is approximately 230 meters., it consists of an
upstream blanket, 25m deep slurry cut-off wall, which projects into the core and
bedrock in the river sand; a grout curtain under the cut-off wall in the foundation with
cement and chemical grouting of the river bed and bedrock and a relief well and
horizontal drain downstream.
The climate of Dadin-kowa is characterized by a dry season of six months, alternating
with a six months rainy season. As in other part of Nigerian savanna, the precipitation
distribution is mainly triggered by a seasonal shift of the inter-tropical Convergence
Zone (ITCZ). For the years 1977 to 1995, the mean annual precipitation is 835mm and
the mean annual temperature is about 26oC whereas relative humidity has same
pattern being 94% in August and dropping to less than 10% during the harmattan
period (Dadin-kowa L.G.A., 1999). The relief of the town ranges between 650m in the
western part to 370m in the eastern parts. Dadin-Kowa Dam is a multipurpose dam
which impounds a large reservoir of water from Gongola River.

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Figure 1.0: Location Map of Dadinkowa Dam.

Dam Owner: The owner of Dadinkowa Dam is the Government of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria and being supervised and coordinated by the River Basin
Development Authorities (RBDAs) under the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
Dadinkowa dam is directly under the supervision of the Upper Benue River Basin
Development Authority (UBRBDA). There are currently twelve River Basin
Development Authorities (RBDAs). They are responsible for implementing the
irrigation development policies of the Federal government. The initial mandate of the
RBDAs was rather broad and has since been modified to reflect changing economic
realities. Their main functions as outlined in the Federal Government Decree No. 35
of 1987 are as follows:

1. To undertake comprehensive development of both surface and groundwater

resources for multipurpose use, with particular emphasis on the provision of irrigation
infrastructure, flood and erosion control, and water management;
2. To construct, operate and maintain dams, lakes, polders, wells, irrigation and
drainage systems for achievement of the RBDAs functions and to hand over all lands
to be cultivated on irrigation schemes to farmers;
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3. To supply water from completed storage schemes to all users for a fee to be
determined by the RBDA with approval of the Ministry;
4. To construct, operate and maintain infrastructural services such as roads and
bridges linking project sites;
5. To develop and keep up-to-date, a comprehensive water resources masterplan,
identifying all water resources requirements, through adequate collection and collation
of water resources, water use, socio-economic and environmental data of the River
Basins.
6. To control of pollution in rivers, lakes, lagoons and creeks in authority's area in
accordance with national laid standards;
7. To resettle persons affected by the works and schemes specified under
special resettlement schemes;
8. To develop fishes and improve navigation on the rivers, lakes, reservoirs, lagoons
and creeks in the authority's area;
9. To assist the state and local governments in the implementation of rural
development works (construction of small dams, provision of power for rural
electrification schemes, establishment of grazing reserves, training of staff) in the
authority areas.

The first two RBDAs in Nigeria are the Chad Basin and Sokoto-Rima Basin
Development Authorities that were established in 1973. The RBDAs in the country
became eleven in 1976 when General Olusegun Obasanjo regime added another nine
to cover the whole country (Ayoade, 1988). During the General Muhammad Buhari
regime, the basin authorities were splited to eighteen in 1984 and renamed
as the River Basin and Rural Development Authorities. However, in 1986
during Gen Babangida regime, the new nomenclature was invalidated and the status
quo of eleven RBDAs maintained. Today, there are twelve RBDAs in Nigeria as a
result of the splitting of the Niger basin development authority into upper and lower
Niger as shown in Table 1.

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 Table 1: River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) in Nigeria

S/N RBDAs Location

1. Sokoto-Rima Sokoto
2. Hadejia-Jamaera Kano
3. Upper Benue Yola
4. Lower Benue Markudi
5. Cross river Calabar
6. Anambra-Imo Owerri
7. Upper Niger Minna
8. Lower Niger Ilorin
9. The Niger Delta Port Harcourt
10. The Benin-Owena Benin City
11. Ogun-Oshun Abeokuta
12. The Lake Chad Maiduguri
Adapted from Ayoade, (1988)

Dam Purpose: The Dadinkowa dam is a multipurpose dam designed to serve among
other uses as hydroelectric power generation, irrigation, industrial and domestic water
supply, fisheries, recreation and flood control. control.
Dadin kowa dam is a source of water for the irrigation and it has the potential of
irrigating 44,000 hectares of land, comprising of Dadin kowa and Guyuk lots.
Downstream of the River is located a rice farm that is irrigated by a canal from the
dam.
The Dadinkowa Dam also has a capacity to generate 39MW of electricity. In August
2001 the federal government announced that it would spend $32 million to complete
the Dadin Kowa Dam power generation facilities and In March 2009 N7 billion was
allocated to complete the hydro-electrical generation component of the dam. Though
the project is yet to be completed as of date.
The Dadinkowa dam is currently being used for water supply. The water supply project
was built at a cost of about N8.2billion by CGC Nigeria, a Chinese company,
completed during the administration of Governor Mohammed Danjuma Goje. In 2010
it was providing about 30,000 cubic meters daily, treated at a plant three kilometers
from the dam before being piped to storage reservoirs in Gombe while supplying
communities along the road.

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References:
Adams, W.A. (1985). River Basin Planning in Nigeria. Applied Geography, 5 (4).

Akindele, S.T. and Adebo, A. (2004). The Political Economy of River Basin
Development
Authority in Nigeria: A Retrospective Case Study of Owena-River Basin Development
Authority (ORBRDA). Journal of Human Ecology, 1 (6).

Ezenweani, R. S. (2017). A Comprehensive Collation of River Basin in Nigeria:

Benefits and River Basin Development Planning and Management. International
Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, 8 (11) ,1586-1595.

Faniran, A. (1981). On the Definition of Planning Region: The Case of River Basin in
Developing Countries. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography,1 (1), 9-15.