Downscalin' (Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands: Part 1)

Through our exploration of the Nile and Senegal basins, we've focused on manifestations of hydrological interdependence over transboundary rivers on the inter-national scale. Whilst these cases might get the most attention, we can't overlook smaller-scale hydrological interdependence. The Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands (HNWs) offer a perfect case-study for disputes around shared water sources. In this blog post, I'll introduce the wetlands and dive into the regional-level powerplay that we see there.

Introducing the Wetlands:

The Hadejia-Nguru Wetland system is located in North-East Nigeria, where the Hadejia and Jama'are rivers meet a frontier of fossil dunes, creating an extensive floodplain (Ayeni et al., 2019). These rivers converge to form the Yobe River which drains - in theory - into Lake Chad. Comprising an area of 350,000Ha (Ringim et al., 2015a), the wetlands hold significant ecological value too as a habitat for 377 avian species (BirdLife International, 2021). For this reason, HNWs became in 2000 the first Ramsar site in Nigeria.

Map of the HNWs
Ringim et al. (2015b)

The climate of the wetlands is categorised by consistently high temperatures with seasonal precipitation: a dry season from October - April and a wet season from May - September. 500mm of rain falls over the course of the average year, although can vary between 200 and 600mm (Abubakar et al., 2019). Climate change is having a notable effect on the regional climate; it is linked with recent reductions in annual rainfall levels and higher annual temperatures (Dami et al., 2017).

The permanent population of the HNWs stands at over 150,000, with inhabitants coming from a diverse set of ethnic groups, including the Bade, Hausa, Fulani and Kanuri (ibid.). However, the wetlands support the livelihoods of 1.5 million people (Kaugama and Ahmed, 2014), playing host to over 250,000 herds of cattle (Dami et al., 2017). We can therefore safely say that the Hadejia-Nguru is an important source of economic value, a precise value of 11.7 million euros (Olalekan et al., 2014). The wetlands' economic value is mainly derived from its natural resources. Activities such as farming, livestock-rearing, fishing and material collection are commonly practiced by locals (Blench, 2013).

 

People navigating the richly-vegetated Nguru River
Wikicommons (Adamuarjali)

Who governs the Wetlands?

Since the 1978 Land Use Act, state governments have been responsible for environmental management (Ayeni et al., 2019), although, de-facto, they share this burden with other actors. These include international and local NGOs, national parks, forestry/grazing reserves and the federal government's River Basin Development Authorities (Blench, 2013). For the purpose of accuracy, we'll focus on the RBDAs for now; the complete picture is complicated, muddied by corruption and dodgy dealings..

Governance of the wetlands is divided between the Hadejia-Jama'are RBDA and the Chad BDA. The Hadejia-Jama'are RBDA headquarters are situated in Kano, Nigeria's 2nd largest city and the regional powerhouse. Meanwhile the Chad BDA works from Borno State, close to Lake Chad. If you refer to the map above, you might already figure out that the upstream Hadejia-Jama'are RBDA is the hegemonic force over the HNWs. This is a natural consequence of the Poacher-Gamekeeper problem whereby the RBDAs, as resource users and allocators, compete to secure their own share (Chiroma et al., 2005). The various large-scale infrastructure projects supported by the Hadejia-Jama'are RBDA epitomise this hegemony. For example, the Tiga and Challawa Gorge Dams were constructed with the aim of supporting industrial irrigation schemes, hydropower generation and providing water to Kano City (Barbier, 2003). Two upstream irrigation schemes (Kano River and Hadejia Valley) supported by the dams account for a potential irrigation area of 47,000Ha.

Upstream developments have been continually come with a great downstream cost. The impoundments have altered the hydrology of the HNWs through its regulation of the Hadejia river's flow (Barbier, 2003). The extent of flooding in the wetlands is substantially lower as a result of these dams and the water-intensive (ground/surface) agricultural projects upstream. This compounds the dangers posed by climate change in the region regarding higher temperatures and reduced precipitation.

The Hadejia-Jama'are RBDA has been repeatedly embroiled in scandal in recent years. Notably, over 350 million Naira (around £650,000) was granted to the development authority to build mechanical  and solar-powered boreholes in Yobe state. However, these boreholes never came to fruition, despite the authority's attempts to fake their existence, and the money was never to be seen again (Akoji, 2021). Similar reports have emerged with regards to non-materialised pivot irrigation projects in the upstream region (Akoji, 2020).

This is a prime example of power-derived impunity, with many parallels across the political world (the UK included). The Hadejia-Jama'are RBDA's upstream position gives it 'first-dibs' on development projects, leaving the downstream authority and small-scale agents to react to the repercussions. In the next post, we'll look at the tangible consequences of upstream projects in terms of emerging local-level conflicts.