Depletion of Lake Chad threatens 5m people —Buhari

..urges people to contribute to required $14bn for its revival

By Levinus Nwabughiogu

ABUJA—President Muhammadu Buhari, Tuesday, in Paris, raised alarm, saying that about five million persons living in the countries within the Lake Chad basin risk displacement owing to the depletion of the lake.

The President, who addressed a high level meeting on ‘Climate Change Challenges and Solutions in Africa,’ at the on-going UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21, in France, urged the world leaders to contribute to the $14 billion needed to revive the lake.

He also stated that most Nigerians living in that axis have lost their lands to the disaster.

The President said the shrinkage of Lake Chad, had resulted in increased social conflicts, high rates of migration and cross border movements.

“Nigeria has a large population of over 170 million and in some parts of Northern Nigeria, a farm that used to belong to 10 people now belongs to over 100 people. They have no other place to live and no land to cultivate,” he said.

The President recalled the research conducted by a professor in a London university and published more than three decades ago, had predicted that unless one or some of the rivers from the Central African region were diverted to the Lake Chad basin, the river would dry up.