Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands Typha Control and Basin Trust Fund — Restoring a Shrinking Sahelian Floodplain (Nigeria)

The Hadejia-Nguru Wetlands in north-eastern Nigeria are a Ramsar-listed Sahelian floodplain supporting fisheries, farming and dry-season grazing. Upstream dams and irrigation have cut flows; the wetlands are reported to have shrunk by up to two-thirds over 30-40 years, and year-round flows let invasive Typha grass spread rather than die back.
A 2019 study by Ahmadu Bello University researchers found Typha infesting about 35,000 of roughly 58,100 hectares. Field trials compared control methods: cutting 15 cm below the water surface gave the best control (about 95% of overall control effect), black-tarpaulin shading cut proliferation by 54%, and interplanting Phragmites karka by 25%. Fish catches were much lower in Typha-infested areas than in open water.
In parallel, after the 2001 floods linked to the Tiga and Challawa dams, the six riparian states and the federal government set up the Hadejia-Jama'are-Komadugu-Yobe Basin Trust Fund, a catchment management plan, a decision-support system and a rotational water-sharing agreement between upstream and downstream communities.
Caveats: the governance account comes from the committee chair's own 2008 article and presents most actions as just starting; Typha clearing and dredging were pilots, and no measured post-restoration gains in flooding, fish stocks or incomes were found. This is a documented problem and a promising framework, not yet a proven result.

Read the full analysis: https://smujo.id/bw/article/view/9023