By Tosin Kolade

The Society for Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN) called on political parties and their candidates on Tuesday, to commit to promoting access to potable water and sanitation when elected into office.

The National Coordinator of NEWSAN, Mr Benson Attah, made the call at a news conference in Abuja, ahead of the general elections as part of the “Vote for WASH’’ Campaign of the group.

Attah said that as the country embarked on elections in a few days, it was important for stakeholders to prioritise access to water and sanitation in the political agenda of all parties.

He said that the “Vote for WASH” campaign was targeted at holding up water, sanitation and hygiene as priority programmes at every level in Nigeria.

According to him, Nigeria can no longer afford the deaths of over 70,000 children under five years annually, due to use of contaminated drinking water and poor sanitary conditions.

This, he said, had resulted in increased vulnerability to water-borne diseases, including diarrhoea.

The coordinator said that 23 per cent of Nigerians, made up of 48 million people still practiced open defecation, including schools without toilet facilities and menstrual hygiene friendly toilets for girls.

“There are hospitals without toilets for patients and care givers, resulting to the situation where Nigeria loses about 1.3 per cent (N455 billion) of its GDP annually, due to poor sanitation.

“Thirty three per cent of Nigerians lack basic water supply, 87 per cent don’t have safely managed water supply services and 83 per cent of Nigerians lack access to basic hygiene services.

“Therefore, we call on all political parties and their aspirants to hence forth, commit to recognise and prioritise safe water, sanitation and hygiene as fundamental human rights of all citizens and not privileges.”

Attah added that citizens must have rights to demand and hold political leaders accountable and ensure that priority was given to improve their lives.

He said that NEWSAN would continue to follow up with aspirants, who had pledged to prioritise access to WASH, saying that the last stakeholders’ engagement saw huge commitments and potential for change.

He called on governments at all levels to prioritise improvement of access to WASH services in its development strategy and the national transformation agenda.

According to him, addressing institutional and governance issues is key to achieving the agenda through policy and legislative reforms in combination with infrastructural investments.

“We call on government at levels to increase media engagement and enlightenment on WASH issues, support the development of framework for reporting progress on WASH targets and tracking of results for accountability.

“Government at all levels should strengthen all relevant institutions to be more effective and efficient in the delivery on their mandates, including safe and sustainable WASH services.”

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)) reports that the Federal Government had recognised the challenges facing the water supply, sanitation and hygiene sectors.

The challenges include low access to services, failure of poorly maintained infrastructure, weak capacity and poor performance of service providers, which has far-reaching impacts on Nigeria.

Stakeholders say that addressing institutional and governance issues are key to achieving the agenda, requiring policy and legislative reforms in combination with infrastructural investments. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru/Silas Nwoha

By Tosin Kolade

The Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, on Tuesday, called on the private sector to invest in the potentials available in Nigeria’s dams and reservoirs.

Adamu made this call at a workshop on Effective Utilisation of Impounded Water in Dam Reservoirs’ in Abuja.

He noted that dams and reservoirs had not been fully utilised, following huge investments through the years, saying investing in them had the potential to change the fortunes of the country.

According to him, effective utilisation of the water impounded in dam reservoirs is expected to sustain the fast growing population through water and food security.

“This will also ensure youths employment in the farms and agro-allied industries that will spring up, thereby enhancing the standard of living of our people.

“Dam is a critical infrastructure to the sustainability of water resources. Water is stored in a dam reservoir during period of excess flow, so that it can be released from the reservoir during the period of inadequate flow to meet the demand of water users.

“Unfortunately, some of the impounded dam reservoirs across the country have not been put into best use after construction, thereby defeating the purpose for which they were built.

“The participation of the private sector in the utilisation of water impounded in our dam reservoirs across the country should therefore, be encouraged’’.

The minister said the workshop was timely and would fashion out ways to correct this ugly trend, saying state governments and other dam owners must ensure effective utilisation of reservoirs for various purposes.

He added that the ministry was interfacing with Katsina, Enugu and Imo State Governments with a view to effectively utilising the water in Mashi, Sulma, Adada and Inishi dam reservoirs, respectively.

This collaboration, he noted, was yielding fruitful results.

Adamu said the ministry had recorded some achievements in the area of concession of some hydropower projects, through Public Private Partnership, in pursuit of the agenda of the current administration.

“The 30MW Gurara Hydropower Project, 40MW Dadin Kowa Hydropower Plant concessions, the 40MW Kashimbila Hydropower Plant, and the 136MW Manya Hydropower Project, both in Taraba State, among others, are our achievements.”

Mr John Ochigbo, Director, River Basin Operations and Inspectorate with the ministry, said the workshop was crucial, considering the huge investment of government in the construction of these critical national assets.

He noted that dams had the potential of boosting the socio-economic life of a country through the provision of water for domestic, agriculture, industrial, hydro-power, flood control, recreation and environmental sustainability.

“It is however sad that the downstream development of these infrastructure that would have provided the above mentioned services, have been neglected over the years, which has resulted in heavy loss of revenue to the nation.

“The estimated 34 billion cubic meter of water impounded across the country, is a huge economic good or resource that can be utilised to boost economic growth especially at this difficult economic times,” Ochigbo said.

According to him, the partial Commercialisation of the river basin development authorities (RBDAs), would effectively harness the economic potentials that abounds in them.

“This is a wakeup call for the RBDAs to attract credible investors, to effectively utilise the impounded water in Dam reservoirs in the RBDAs for various purposes as earlier mentioned above.’’

A Dam and Irrigation Expert, Mr Matthew Offie, in his Presentation on `Challenges of Non-utilisation of Impounded Water in Dam Reservoirs’, expressed worry that many dam reservoirs in the country were not optimally utilised.

Offie said Nigeria was losing a lot from under-utilisation of its dam reservoirs, saying there was need to change this narrative.

“Nigeria has a lot of socio-economic benefits such as food security, water for all uses, agriculture value chain and employment generation, so we must maximise its full potentials.

“At one of my visits to Ikere-Gorge Dam in Oyo State, some workers did not even have water to drink, they had to seek water from other places, a lot of these dams are abandoned.

“Even during the flooding, we do not need to run helter-skelter if we maximise our dams and reservoirs efficiently’’.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that participants are expected to draw up a Draft Action Plan on Dam Reservoirs that would contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of Nigeria. (NAN) www.nannews.ng

Edited by Nyisom Fiyigon Dore

By Tosin Kolade

The Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu has said states’ attitude and poor governance culture in the water and sanitation sector may affect the attainment of an Open Defecation Free country by 2025.

Adamu said this at the Opening of the National Retreat for States on the ‘Clean Nigeria: Use The Toilet’ Campaign in Abuja on Monday.

He said there was the need for states to show more commitments by complementing the efforts of the Federal Government in meeting the national ODF targets by 2025.

“Some states are still upcoming. Katsina state is hopefully going to be the next one, But there are states where there’s virtually no progress at all, that’s why every time, we need to review the situation from time to time, and find a way to encourage the states.

“We have given every support and we will continue to provide that support, but we need that political level, the highest level in the states, for the country to have a lot of traction.

“But I keep saying that once we have the political will as a people, take this campaign as ours, we own it, it’s going to go on autopilot.

“So what we are waiting for is for the nation, not only the state government, but the people themselves, to own this campaign, to understand that sanitation is a personal obligation”.

The minister noted the need to revisit all strategies and goals on ending open defecation and address the funding gaps, saying this would change the poor narrative.

According to him, ending open defecation is not just about access to tollets, but about generating demand for toilets and effecting behavioural change in favour of the use of toilets.

“It is imperative that we strengthen our supply chain towards sanitation building and the creation of a sanitation market that will propel a new economy that will ensure better livelihood.

“Poverty reduction and job creation are all the benefits of the new economy, achieving this however, will require the involvement of all Stakeholders”.

Also speaking, Mr Oumar Doumbouya, UNICEF Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Specialist said it was impressive that Nigeria is able to attain over 100 ODF local governments.

This, he noted, is a huge achievement even for the West African region as Nigeria holds a critical part of the region.

He said closing the gaps and leveraging on current efforts was crucial if the nation would attain its target.

According to him, there is the need for inclusion of everyone in interventions, adding that using innovation approaches was the key to achieving open defecation free target.

Ms. Evelyn Mere, Country Director, said Nigeria had the potential to excel in sanitation economy, through job creation, revenue generation and a healthier economy, with efficient provision of safely managed WASH services.

Mere hinted that the organised private sector in WASH would be announcing a few partnerships in the coming month, aimed at declaring 100 LGAs open defecation free.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the meeting had representatives from all state water agencies, and other partners.

The meeting was an avenue for cross-learning, discuss challenges and analyse opportunities in the water and sanitation sector. (NAN) www.nannews.ng

Edited by Sadiya Hamza

By Tosin Kolade

The Network of Female Professionals in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (FEMinWASH), has called for the inclusion of women in operation and maintenance of water facilities.

FEMinWASH Chairperson, Dr Boluwaji Onabolu, made this call at a news conference in collaboration with the FCT Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA) in Abuja on Friday.

According to her, inclusion of women in operation and maintenance of water facilities will go a long way to promote sustainability and overall improvement of lives for the populace.

Onabolu said findings from the WASHMATA Initiatives/Bank of Industry and FCT RUWASSA Study on sustainability of water supplies, showed that the lack of gender participation was affecting WASH service delivery in Nigeria.

“A state of emergency was declared in WASH sector in 2018 and laudable programmes are being implemented by both the federal and state ministries of Water Resources and development agencies.

“However, in spite of the achievements of these programmes, it is important to note that according to the WASHNORM survey 2021, the percentage of Nigerians with access to basic drinking water decreased from 70 per cent in 2019 to 67 per cent in 2021.

“The WASHNORM survey 2021, notes that 61 per cent of water supplies assessed were stressed and non-functional,” she said.

Onabolu said the rapid population growth was one of the reasons for the reduction in percentage access as over 30 million people gained access between 2019 and 2021.

She said poor sustainability of water supplies was another reason for the inability of the sector to make the expected remarkable progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal 6.1.

The chairperson noted that implementing the National Village Level Operation and Maintenance (VLOM) strategy was crucial for rehabilitating and repairing broken down water infrastructure, especially in rural areas.

Dr Mohammed Dan-Hassan, Executive Director, FCT RUWASSA, said the agency has mapped out strategies towards solving all WASH challenges in the FCT.

Ms. Kucheli Augustine, representative of the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, said partnership with female environmental health officers was crucial, for advocacy and impact.

She noted that lack of sustainable practices in water and sanitation service delivery was causing the nation huge revenue losses.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, through UNICEF developed a comprehensive National Strategy for Village Level Operation and Maintenance of water infrastructure.

However, only 13 of the 36 states have expressed interest in utilising the VLOM Strategy. (NAN)

FEMinWASH is a platform for Nigerian women in WASH to connect with each other, providing a system where collaborative efforts are geared in addressing Nigeria’s public health concerns. (NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Dorcas Jonah/Razak Owolabi