Difference the dam has made
The dam improved irrigation for farmers and strengthened agricultural industries in the region.
Kainji Lake – the largest man-made lake in Nigeria – was created when the dam was built. It provides water for fishing, an important industry in the area.
The scheme generates electricity for all the large cities in Nigeria, though not in the quantities intended. Some power is sold to the neighbouring country of Niger.
How the work was done
At the time the Kainji dam was one of the largest infrastructure projects Nigeria had seen.
Preparation work for the scheme saw engineers strengthen bridges and roads along routes totalling 1,000km so that heavy machinery and other equipment could be moved to the construction site.
Kainji is a gravity dam. A gravity dam primarily uses the weight of the dam alone to hold back the water pushing against the structure. It was mainly constructed from concrete.
Engineers used over 250,000 tons of cement and more than 25,000 tons of steel to build the structure. The cement came from Nigerian companies and from Norway – shipped in specially designed bulk carrier vessels.
Around 50,000 people were displaced by the scheme. Resettlement work saw 128 villages and 2 new townships built, as well as perimeter roads around the reservoir.