The Kiri Dam is in

Shelleng Shelleng is a Local Government Area (LGA) of Adamawa State, North-east Nigeria. The LGA shares borders with Guyuk and Girei LGA and is made up of towns and villages such as Kiri, Bodwai, Gundo, Jumbul, Shelleng, Timbu, Ketembere, Dunge, Boburo, a ...

local government area of

Adamawa State Adamawa state () is a state in the North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno to the northwest, Gombe to the west, and Taraba to the southwest, while its eastern border forms part of the national border with Cameroon. It tak ...

in the north east of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, damming the

Gongola River The Gongola River is in northeastern Nigeria, the principal tributary of the Benue River. The upper course of the river as well as most of its tributaries are seasonal streams, but fill rapidly in August and September. The Gongola rises on the eas ...

. It is a 1.2 km long, 20 m high zoned embankment with an internal clay blanket. The dam was mainly completed in 1982. The reservoir has a capacity of 615 million m³.

Savannah Sugar Company

The dam was built to provide irrigation for the Savannah Sugar Company (SSC), a large-scale sugar cane plantation and processing company set up as a joint venture between the Nigerian Federal Government and the

Commonwealth Development Corporation British International Investment, (formerly CDC Group plc, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and Colonial Development Corporation) is the development finance institution of the UK government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ...

(CDC),

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The CDC was managing agent for the project, and the construction contract was awarded to NECCO, a company largely owned by the government. The Savannah Sugar Company was acquired by Dangote Industries in 2002. In 2009 the company owned 32,000 hectares of land near the dam or which 6,330 were in use and employed about 5,000 people. The company was producing about 50,000 tons of sugar annually, supplying the Nigerian market which consumes 1.1 million tons each year. Over 1,000 hectares of irrigated rice and other crops were being grown using the company's canals.

Impact

29,000 hectares of land were expropriated without compensation, eventually displacing 20,000 people. Resettlement assistance was inadequate. The dam has affected the lower reaches of the Gongola River. Flood peaks dropped from 1,420 m³/second to 1,256 m³/second, while flows in dryer seasons increased from 5.7 m³/second to 21 m³/second. The river downstream from the dam has narrowed and become less winding, with fewer separate channels.

Future

An assessment of the dam in 2004 rated its condition "good". In October 2008 the United States Trade and Development Agency issued a request for proposals on constructing a 35 MW hydro-electric power plant at the dam.

References

{{Dams in Nigeria Dams in Nigeria Sokoto State Dams completed in 1982 1982 establishments in Nigeria 20th-century architecture in Nigeria