African Unification Front
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NIGER BASIN
It is the third largest river in Africa and has the second largest basin in Africa, which covers 2,117,684 square Km, and contains 11 states. There are several authorities that oversee its management.
The Niger originates on the Fouta Djallon plateau, SW Republic of Guinea (near the border with Sierra Leone), and flows NE through Guinea and into the Mali Republic. In central Mali the Niger is joined by its tributary, the River Bani, at the city of Mopti, where forms its vast inland delta (77,700 sq km). Known as the Inner Delta, it is a maze of channels, swamps and shallow lakes in huge shallow depression which fills and empties each year as the annual flood passes through, and results in about half the inflow being lost to evaporation.
The Inner Delta area is swampy and the soil sandy. Consequently, the river 'loses' nearly two-thirds of its potential flow between Ségou (at 900 km from its source) and Timbuktu (at 1500 km) due to seepage and evaporation, the latter being aggravated by the fact that the river here touches the southern flanks of the Sahara desert. All the water from the Bani tributary, does not compensate for the 'losses' in the Inner Delta, as the total flow further downstream still decreases rather than increases. The average 'loss' is estimated at 31 km3/year, but varies considerably according to the years: it was 46 km3 during the wet year of 1969 and about 17 km3 during the dry year of 1973.
An irrigation project in the delta, begun in the 1930s and including a large dam at Sansanding (1941), has opened more than 100,000 acres (40,470 hectares) to farming, especially rice cultivation. This inland delta is Mali's most productive agricultural region. The Niger is an important travel artery in Mali, Niger, and Nigeria and is also a source of fish, including carp, Nile perch, and catfish.
Downstream from Timbuktu, Mali, the Niger begins a great bend, flowing first East and then South East through the Republic of Niger (where it forms part of the border with Benin), and into Nigeria. Its main tributary, the Benue river, flows west from Cameroon and joins the Niger at the city of Lokoja, in central Nigeria, then flows south, emptying through the great Niger Delta into the Gulf of Guinea.
The Niger Delta (36,260 sq km) is the largest in Africa, and is characterized by swamps, lagoons, and navigable channels. The region is a major source of palm oil and petroleum. Major towns in the delta are Port Harcourt and Bonny. Much of the Niger is seasonally navigable, and below Lokoja it is open to ships virtually all year.
The Niger is a major source of fish, especially perch and tiger fish. A hydroelectric and irrigation project, centered around the Kainji dam (1968), is located on the Niger near Jebba, Nigeria. The Upper Niger region was an important part of the former empires of Mali and Songhai. The water level of the Niger has been substantially lowered as a result of the long West African drought in the late 1960s, 70s and 80s.
In Nigeria, the Niger river delta constitutes one of the world's largest wetlands and contains one of Africa's largest mangrove forests. It is also the location of some of Africa's largest petroleum and natural gas deposits, which are critical to Africa's economy.
Pollution caused by the oil and natural gas industries has damaged farms, fisheries, and mangrove stands and provoked protests from local peoples in the Niger Delta region, including Ijo and Ogoni communities. In 1995 confrontations between the Shell Corporation and the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, led to the deaths of hundreds of people, including author Ken Saro-Wiwa (extra-judicial execution). MOSOP has become one of the biggest environmental movements in Africa.
FISHERY
The International Centre for Aquaculture and Aquatic Environments carried out a multidisciplinary assessment of the Niger river traditional fishery (ending in 1986). The study included catch assessment, a socio-economic survey of fishery households, a market survey and study of the organization of fishery cooperatives and management systems. The assessment revealed that traditional, indigenous management systems for the river fishery were far superior to the government strategy then in use, and guidelines were developed for supporting and enhancing the effectiveness of the traditional system.
WATER REQUIREMENTS
The countries with the largest water requirements are Mali, Niger and Nigeria. Water problems may arise in the Niger basin if the whole potential is developed. The effect of water abstraction upstream of the Inner Delta on the quantities that disappear within this delta has not been studied. Probably, as is the case with the Sudd swamps in the Nile basin, the lower the quantity of water entering the swamp area the lower the quantity of water disappearing in absolute as well as relative terms.
In all cases, storage works for the development of irrigation are necessary throughout the whole basin. Probable navigation and hydropower problems may arise if more water is abstracted for agricultural purposes.
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