Prioritization of Water Resources Management Problems in North Central Nigeria Using Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM)

Olayinka Gafar  Okeola; Khadijat Abdulkareem  Abdul Raheem

doi:10.4236/jwarp.2016.83029

Olayinka Gafar Okeola¹^*, Khadijat Abdulkareem Abdul Raheem²

Abstract: 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.

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

Cite this paper: 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.

References

[1] Federal Government of Nigeria (2011) Executive Summary of the Nigeria Water Sector Roadmap. Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Abuja.

[2] Federal Ministry of Water Resources (2014)
http://www.waterresources.gov.ng/about/core-functions

[3] Ali, K.A. (2012) Development of Water Supply Infrastructure in Nigeria: Challenges and Prospects. Nigeria Society of Engineers October Lecture, Abuja.

[4] Okeola, O.G. and Sule, B.F. (2011) Evaluation of Management Alternatives for Urban Water Supply System Using Multicriteria Decision Analysis. Journal of King Saud University—Engineering Science, 24, 19-24.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jksues.2011.07.004

[5] Schardong, A. and Simonovic, S.P. (2011) Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms of Water Resources Management. Water Resources Research Report. Report No. 078, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Western Ontario, Canada.

[6] Yilmaz, B. and Harmanacioglu (2010) Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Water Resources Management: A Case Study of Gediz River Basin, Turkey. Water SA, 36, 563-576.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v36i5.61990

[7] Kankam-Yeboah, K., Asare, E.B., Gyau-Boakye, P. and Nishigaki, M. (2005) Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM)—An Analytical Tool in the Prioritization of Water Resources Management Problems in Ghana. Journal of the Faculty of Environmental Science and Technology, Okayama University, 10, 75-81.

[8] Pastakia, C.M.R. and Jensen, A. (1998) The Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM) for Environmental Impact Assessment. Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 18, 461-462.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0195-9255(98)00018-3

[9] Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (2005) AQUASTAT—FAO’s Information System on Water and Agriculture.
http://www.fao.org/waicent/faoinfo/agricult/agl/aglw/aquastat/countries/nigeria/index.stm

[10] Hajkowicz, S. and Collins, K. (2007) A Review of Multiple Criteria Analysis for Water Resources Planning and Management. Water Resources Management, 21, 1553-1566.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11269-006-9112-5

[11] Okeola, O.G. and Salami, A.W. (2012) A Pragmatic Approach to the Nigeria’s Engineering Infrastructure Dilemma. Epistemics in Science, Engineering and Technology, 2, 55-61.

[12] Adenikinju, A. (2005) Analysis of the Cost of Infrastructure Failures in Developing Economy: The Case Study of Electricity Sector in Nigeria. AERC Research Paper 148, African Economic Research Consortium, Nairobi.

[13] Omoregie, A., Ebohon, O.J. and Radford, D. (2011) Modeling in Ranking Procedures: A Case Study: Infrastructure Failure in Nigeria. School of Architecture, De Montfort University, Leceister.
http://www.irbdirect.de/daten/iconda/cib10618.pdf