The African Development Bank Group and the Lake Chad Basin Commission have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to rehabilitate and restore the Lake Chad Basin.
The agreement, signed on the sidelines of the 37th African Union Summit held in Ethiopia, will mobilise financial and technical resources to improve the development and management of water resources, support livelihoods and restore peace in the region.
Lake Chad, once considered the sixth-largest inland water body on earth for livelihood, has shrunk in area by some 92% in recent decades. The larger Chad Basin contributes to food security for about 50 million people.
Republic of Chad Minister of Water, Passalet Kanade Marssela said,
“The population living in this ecosystem are facing major socio-economic challenges – add to that the insecurity situation due to terrorist groups which brings loss of livelihood, destruction of households, forced internal displacements and beyond our national frontiers.”
Relatively, African Development Bank Vice President for Regional Development, Integration and Business Delivery, Marie-Laure Akin-Olugbade, told dignitaries and sector leaders in water and agriculture at the signing ceremony that the agreement provides a framework for projects and programs to improve the quality of life for millions of Africans.
She said “The Memorandum of Understanding involves transforming living conditions in the hydrographic basin of the six member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, namely Chad, Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, the Central African Republic and Libya adding that as the main financial partner of the Commission for several years, the AfDB will consolidate the gains made, through a new integrated regional programme that accelerates sustainable solutions to the challenges of Lake Chad and further improves the living conditions of the basin’s population.”
The Lake Chad Basin Commission named the African Development Bank the “Champion Lead Partner for resource mobilization for the revival of the Lake Chad.”
