The Kainji Lake Research project undertaken by the Government of Nigeria with assistance from the United Nations Special Pond and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations became operational on 12 August 1968. Its purpose was to assist in the comprehensive development of man Bade lake resources through research and surveys, the results of which will be made available to all regions of Nigeria. As part of the project operation, FAO assigned a Fisheries Limnologist Mr. F. Henderson from 19 July 1969 to 30 September 1971 with the following terms of reference: to aid the Government of Nigeria in the conduct of a limnological survey of Lake Kainji. The purpose of the survey was to identify and describe limnological conditions or factors which may now or in the future restrain development of the fishery.
The limnological research programme, as suggested by the objectives of the project, was primarily aimed at providing background information pertinent to fishery research and development. Specifically, it was intended to:
estimate the potential productivity of Kainji Lake with reference to the potential harvest of fish, and identify the factors which regulate this productivity;
describe the structure of the lake with respect to those factors which are thought to govern the distribution of fish in the lake, such as temperature, oxygen, depth and transparency;
describe the seasonal variations in lake structure; and
assess the changes that may be expected to develop in the above as the new lake matures.
The work set out in this report covers two years of investigation beginning in August 1969, one year after the initial filling of the lake.
In 1954, the Government of Nigeria engaged the Netherlands Engineering Consultants, NEDECO, to “carry out a general study and investigation of conditions obtaining in the Niger and Benue system with the object of determining how shipping conditions on these rivers can be most effectively improved,…”. A report on these studies was submitted to the Government of Nigeria in 1959. This report provided the first detailed data on the hydrology of the Niger, and summarized existing information of the geology and climate of the region. Among recommendations made by NEDECO was a recommendation that a dam be constructed between Bussa and Jebba both to improve navigation and to produce electricity. While the above studies were nearing completion, the Government decided to press further on the investigation of a suitable site for a hydroelectric scheme, engaged Balfour Beatty and Company to make a detailed study of the regions suggested by NEDECO for a power dam, and asked NEDECO to work with Balfour Beatty in the study. These two firms are hereafter referred to as Joint Consultants. This later study was completed in 1961, and with acceptance of a plan for a dam at Kainji Islands, the Joint Consultants were retained until completion of the project. The reports of the Joint Consultants include extensive data on the regime of flow of the Niger, the geology and climate of the Kainji basin, and maps of the reservoir.
From July to September 1965, a biological research team, organised by the University of Ife with the assistance of the University of Liverpool and the Ministry of Overseas Development of the United Kingdom, made a brief study of the biological conditions in the proposed reservoir area. Their report (White, ed., 1965) includes data on the chemical composition of the Niger, and on the plankton composition of the river. The University of Ife continued active work, particularly on the chemistry of the water of the river and the newly flooded lake.
Further limnological data have been provided by project fisheries personnel, and the Hydrology Section of the Niger Dams Authority, charged with operating the Kainji dam, have also continued to supply data on flow and lake level.
