Author(s)

Olayinka Gafar Okeola^1*, Khadijat Abdulkareem Abdul Raheem²

¹Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.
²Department of Civil Engineering, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria.

This study employed the Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM) to prioritize the water resources management problems in the North Central Nigeria. This was done through the assessment of the status of water resources management in the region, evaluation of existing policy and strategy of water management, identification of the management problems and the prioritization with RIAM. The stakeholders identified water resources management problems, ranked them in other of severity in different categories and also evaluated them using the RIAM techniques in the administered questionnaire. Eleven problems were analyzed based on the physical/chemical, biological/ecological, social/cultural and economic/operational factors using several impact indicators. Scores were assigned, the RIAM models applied and the averages taken to arrive at the final assessment scores. The two major water resources management problems identified are: 1) inadequate funds for further agricultural, hydroelectric, navigation and industrial development; 2) poor data collection and banking. These problems were prioritized by RIAM in order of severity for urgent intervention. The RIAM technique has made a key contribution to the prioritization of water resources management by providing insights into urgent problems according to stakeholders and thus guides the policy maker in appropriate decision making.

Water Resources, Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM), Stakeholders, Prioritization, North Central Nigeria

Okeola, O. and Abdul Raheem, K. (2016) Prioritization of Water Resources Management Problems in North Central Nigeria Using Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM). Journal of Water Resource and Protection, 8, 345-357. doi: 10.4236/jwarp.2016.83029.