AJ. Ochigbo FNMGS served as a panelist at a webinar on transformative water diplomacy in West Africa, outlining Nigeria’s priorities for transboundary water negotiations.
Abuja, Nigeria | May 21, 2026 — The Executive Director of SURBACH – Sustainable Development of River Basin, Climate Action and Health Solutions Ltd/Gte, AJ. Ochigbo FNMGS, served as a panelist at the RC-IRBM/UNESCO webinar on “Towards Transformative Water Diplomacy in West Africa: The State of Water Diplomacy in Nigeria”.
The webinar was organised by the Regional Centre for Integrated River Basin Management (RC-IRBM), a Category 2 Centre under UNESCO and domiciled with the National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, under the Cross-regional learning for Transformative Water Diplomacy (CroWD) Project in partnership with IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands.
The dialogue brought together policymakers, researchers, water managers, civil society, and students to address Nigeria’s role in managing transboundary Basins including the Rivers Niger and Benue, Lake Chad Basin, and shared aquifers amid climate change, water poverty, and geopolitical insecurity.
Nigeria’s Core Objectives at the Negotiation Table
- Safeguard downstream water security for agriculture, urban water supply, energy, and environmental protection in the Niger Basin.
- Enable regional integration through joint management, investment and benefit-sharing.
- Uphold equitable utilization by balancing economic, social, and environmental factors.
- Strengthen institutional resilience through proactive cooperation, negotiation and diplomacy.
Nigeria’s Institutional Framework
Mr. Ochigbo highlighted Nigeria’s engagement with riparian states through the Niger Basin Authority (NBA) for the Niger and Benue Basins, and the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC) for the Lake Chad Basin. These frameworks provide platforms for dialogue, technical cooperation, data exchange, and joint project development.
The Path Forward: Three Institutional Shifts
- Operationalize a shared data platform with NIHSA anchoring Basin-wide hydromet data sharing and early warning.
- Build a pipeline of bankable projects with reliable funding and explicit benefit-sharing mechanisms.
- Institutionalize science diplomacy capacity to train negotiators in technical models and diplomatic instruments.
“The future of the Niger, Chad and Benue Basins depends on rules that are operational, data that is trusted, and people who have the technical and diplomatic skills to negotiate them.”
The RC-IRBM webinar is the first phase of a broader programme to build stakeholder capacity across West African Basins on transformative water diplomacy. It aligns with Nigeria’s NDC adaptation priorities as well as SURBACH’s vision on water security, climate resilience and livelihoods improvement.