Nigerians Living on Less Than 7% Pipe-Borne Water

Lagos, Nigeria

Abuja, Nigeria, December 14, 2017// – Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has said Nigeria lags behind in terms of water supply, with access to pipe-borne water dropping from 32 percent in 1990 to less than 7 percent in 2017.

He also said there is a corresponding increase of 25 percent in open defecation and the prevalence of water-borne diseases in the country.

He said an urgent intervention was required in the water sector if the country is to overcome the challenges of water supply, sanitation and water governance issues, as well as achieve the 2030 targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on water supply and sanitation.

He gave these statistics after the National Economic Council meeting in Abuja, Thursday.

According to Adamu, an estimated investment of N1.9 trillion is needed in the next 15 years to meet the SDGs by 2030.

He outlined a three-phase Action Plan to revitalize the water, sanitation and hygiene sector to include a 12-month emergency plan beginning from the 2nd quarter of 2018 to April 2019.

He said, “We would require a five-year recovery programme to last up to 2022 and 13-year revitalization strategy that will last till 2030.

“These plans will involve the urgent establishment of an institutional and funding framework for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Services, and the engagement of Urban and Rural (WASH) sectors on an accelerated development path towards 2030.

“The plan also calls for tripling the current investment in water supply, establishment of a WASH fund, fast-tracking the development of the National policy on Sanitation and the presidential launch of a National Sanitation Campaign to eliminate open defecation.

“Furthermore, the plan is seeking the massive rehabilitation of existing infrastructure in the sector, and sectoral reform towards cost recovery and promotion of private sector participation in the sector, all aimed at taking care of the estimated 182 million population.

“The National Water Reserves Bill now before the National Assembly provides for the establishment of Catchment management committees, with representatives of States within each hydrological area as permanent members”.

Similar the Minister informed Council that Nigeria requires an average annual investment of N59bn to attain 78,000 hectares of planned irrigation by 2019, and a total of N1.5trn to attain 500,000 hectares of irrigation by 2030.

“Council was also informed that the River Basin Development Authorities across the country are undergoing structural reforms towards partial to full commercialization,” he said.

 Independent.ng 

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