HYDRO-GEOLOGICAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES OF MANAGING TRANS-BOUNDARY AQUIFER SYSTEMS IN NIGERIA

People’s lives and livelihoods depend on water. Maintaining secure water supplies for drinking, industry and agriculture would be impossible without groundwater, the largest and most reliable of all freshwater resources. The status of exploitation of the transboundary aquifer systems in Africa calls for an urgent mutually agreeable groundwater management plan to be put in place. This paper therefore, presents a clear picture of the hydrogeological conditions of the various groundwater regions/basins in Nigeria and examines the potentials of transboundary aquifer system and discusses the hydro-geological considerations and management options of trans-boundary aquifer resources with a view to producing a synoptic overview of the hydro-geological character in each groundwater basin. Monitoring network of boreholes for groundwater quality and quantity measurements would have to be put in place, particularly in zones considered to be critical because withdrawals are exceeding recharge or contamination is threatening groundwater quality. Central to any strategy, the evidence which requires systematic and prolonged data collection and rigorous analysis is very necessary. A long-term sustainable management and protection of groundwater resources in Nigeria is suggested.