By YANGE IKYAA
The minister of water resources, Suleiman Adamu, on Monday paid a one day working visit to the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) in Kaduna, where he inspected and commissioned a stream of projects done by the institute’s director general, Prof. Emmanuel Adanu.
Among the projects commissioned were a 50 bedroom ttudent gostel facility, a hydraulic modelling centre, and a 100-seater student lecture theatre, which has been named Prof. Emmanuel Ada Adamu Hall in honour of the institute’s DG under whose tenure the project has been executed.
Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu Hydraulic Modelling Centre and Dr. Musa W. Ibrahim Lecture Theatre have also been named in honour of the minister and Dr. Ibrahim.
The minister also visited the Songhai Farm at the Institute, where he inspected the hydroponic demonstration model farm system.
Commissioning the 50 bedroom student hostel, the minister stated that it will provide conducive accommodation for short course middle and high level participants from within and outside Nigeria at affordable cost, while the hydraulic modelling centre, which was initiated to provide knowledge and necessary skills for fluid flow system such as water system, dams, reservoir analysis, sewer system or a storm, will be used to analyse systems’ hydraulic behavior.
For the 100-seater lecture theatre, he said this project, which was initiated in January 2017 and completed in 2020, is to provide a conducive learning environment.
His words: “In November, 2015 when I took over the affairs of the ministry of water resources and after having received a briefing from the chief executive of the institute, I was determined to create the enabling environment to make NWRI realize its full potentials as a regional player in capacity development for the water sector and in carrying out applied research on contemporary issues to address emerging challenges in the sector.
“To achieve this objective, the technical expertise and infrastructure needed to be strengthened through improved and appropriate funding, particularly for human capital development.”
Speaking further, Engr. Adamu informed that his ministry, in collaboration with the Institute, has been working assiduously to upgrade the institute to attain the status of university of water resources.
He however advised the in-coming administration to continue with this laudable effort in ensuring that the institute achieved this objective.
The minister also advised the management and students of the institute to put these facilities to proper use by maintaining them and adopting the principles of Executive Order N0. 11 that seeks to promote maintenance culture of government institutional buildings.
Speaking earlier, Prof. Adanu stated that the event that was being witnessed began in 2017, and that he felt very elated that the minister had come to see things for himself.
According to him, his focus is on capacity building, which is the major responsibility of the institute. The DG noted that the institute was now ready for scaling up.
“In terms of youth empowerment, you saw our farms, those things you saw fabricated were done from our office here. I can tell you that no university has this in this country,” he said.
Prof. Adanu said that the minster’s winning strategies include his being approachable, and that if one presents a case before him, he tries to see if it is possible and he then tries to enhance the financial provisions to achieve the required set goal.
