A national voice for
dam excellence.

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) is a non-governmental international organization which provides fora for exchange of knowledge and experience in dam engineering and science. ICOLD leads the professions in setting guidelines and standards to ensure that dams are built and operated safely, efficiently and economically and they are environmentally sustainable and socially equitable.

Nigeria became a member of ICOLD since 1973 through the Nigerian Committee on Large Dams (NICOLD). NICOLD is one of the over 100 National Committee members with about 230 members drawn from the public and private sectors. States Ministries of Water Resources should encourage their Technical Staff to join NICOLD and ICOLD as members.

ICOLD presently operates about 26 Technical Committees. A Technical Committee is a group of twenty or more experts, each from a different country who voluntarily share their knowledge, for 2 to 6 years on a specific topic and at the end of their work produce a Bulletin recapitulating the world state of the art and summarizing international good practices on the subject studied. NICOLD also operates through similar Technical Committees.

The 2018 NICOLD Conference and Annual General meeting (AGM) was held in Abuja from 8th – 9th May, 2018 with the theme “Dams for Sustainable Development in Nigeria”. The conference emphasized the importance of dams for socio-economic development and job creation. Dams have played a significant role in the transformation of many notable economies including United States of America, China, Turkey etc. The conference also noted the adverse effects of abandonment of dam construction projects in Nigeria and recommended the development of an integrated strategic action plan for project management.

The 2018 ICOLD Conference and AGM was held in Vienna, Austria from July 1st – 7th 2018. About 1500 participants from 87 countries participated at the conference which was held at the Vienna International Centre. The Nigerian delegation which was led by the President of Nigerian Committee on Large Dams (NICOLD), Dr. J. B. O. Adewumi consisted of 17 members drawn from the Public and Private sectors. Experts from various backgrounds shared their experiences and innovations in Sediment Management Practices in Reservoirs, Reducing Life Safety Risks of Dams, Climate Change and Dams, Difficult Dam Foundation Treatment etc. The report of the conference is on the NICOLD website.

ICOLD and NICOLD recognize the criticality of dams for water supply, irrigation, hydropower and other purposes. The initiatives to address the critical infrastructure gap in Nigeria will not be successful without the capacity building of Nigerian Professionals.