GASABO - Members of the Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) are involved in activities aimed at helping them maximise benefits from River Nile.

Several training sessions have been organised and officials are urging member members to take full advantage of arguably the world’s longest river.

They say the river, if put to good use, could contribute significantly to the states’ desperate efforts to cut poverty levels and bring about economic development.

Rwanda’s State Minister for Mines and water, Prof. Bikoro Munyanganizi, said on Monday that member states should come up with best ways of using Nile waters to spur economic growth, and to reverse environmental degradation.

He was speaking at the start of a two-day meeting of an NBI subsidiary organ, the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Programme (Nelsap), at La Palisse in Nyandungu, Kigali.

He urged member states to facilitate the involvement of civil society in the planning development processes in the NBI.

"The Government of Rwanda is ready to facilitate the projects under NBI for the benefit all people in the region,” Bikoro said. "It’s now the duty of those in charge of Nile Basin projects to implement the policies for the benefit of all surrounding countries.”

NBI members are Burundi, DRC, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. Eritrea acts as an observer.

The Nelsap project manager, Nabide Isah Kiti, said that the body has funded many projects in water resources management, fisheries development, agriculture development and water Hyacinth control.

"We’re compiling data about the water resources available in the member countries to see how best it could transform our people economically,” Kiti said.

He said that currently Nelsap is training ten people in each member state who will later train others in their respective countries how to enhance agriculture productivity through rainwater harvesting, small scale irrigation, and livestock management.

The Governor of the Eastern Province, Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, called on regional leaders to tap wasted waters for agricultural development.

"It’s very shameful to have water here in abundance but instead of using it for positive development, we sit back and watch as it erodes our soil,” he said.

Nelsap is an action plan developed by regional initiatives such as the Nile Basin Power Forum, the Common Market for East and Central Africa (Comesa) and the East African Community (EAC).

Its main aim is to realise development benefits such as economic prosperity, poverty reduction, peace, economic integration and environmental sustainability.

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