Nigeria plans new hydroelectric dam

KADUNA, Nigeria, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The government of Nigeria announced plans to move forward with a hydroelectric dam project in the central state of Kaduna, local officials said.

Namadi Sambo, the governor of Kaduna, said the federal government approved a plan to build a major hydroelectric project in his state, Nigeria's Next newspaper reports.

He added the project was intended originally as a water-supply facility, but plans for electricity generation were added later to the project.

The plans emerged as militant activity and underfunding drag on oil and gas productivity in Nigeria. Sanusi Barkindo, the managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., said the government was to blame for the declines because of budget shortfalls.

In January Odein Ajumogobia, the Nigerian minister of state for petroleum resources, said in a rare showing of culpability that there was a national shortage of petroleum products.

Nigeria's productivity in the hydroelectric sector has increased steadily since the 1980s, with a major boom in 2002. Recent production is around 7.5 billion kilowatt-hours per year.