A History of Water Conflict among Riparian States of the Lake Chad

Abstract

Water is a vital resource for nation states. It is a resources that neither knows nor respect nations boundaries, as such, this makes riparian states vulnerable to conflict. The water conflict in the lake is a unique and complicated situation because it is a transnational lake shared by four riparian states – Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria. Water conflict in this area is mostly triggered by two major factors such as unilateral decision by upstream riparian state in constructing dams for domestic and industrial purpose which severely affects the downstream riparian water security 
issues; and the potential for competing claims over the newly established islands as a result of receding waters of the lake chad. Even though, the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), an intergovernmental organization set in place to solved the water dispute in the lake chad area, some problems are still unresolved which is an important social and security related issues. This 
paper, therefore, is a historical presentation aim at exploring the history of water conflict among riparian states in the lake chad basin using qualitative method mainly secondary sources of data. Given the volatility of water disputes, this study would enlighten nations with similar situations as those of the Lake chad to work out a sharing formula that would minimize water conflict.