By Rasheeda Hamidu
Gaps in public financing, weak institutional coordination and inadequate maintenance are limiting efforts to provide Nigerians with safe, reliable and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, evidence presented at the PULSE Summit 2026 has shown.
The summit was held on Thursday, at the Abuja Continental Hotel, Abuja, bringing stakeholders together to examine how public funds move from approved budgets to services at the last mile.
The summit, organised by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) Nigeria, featured five working labs focused on Health, Education, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Social Protection, and Debt and Accountability, with the WASH session examining financing and service delivery challenges in the sector.
Olayinka Babalola, Country Director of IBP Nigeria, addressed participants as the summit examined the gap between public financial commitments and the services ultimately experienced by citizens.
Prof. Taiwo Oyedele, Honourable Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, gave the host address and officially opened the summit.
Dr Joe Abah, OON, Regional Director for Africa at DAI, delivered the keynote address, contributing to discussions on how public resources can translate into effective last-mile services.
The WASH Lab focused on whether funding allocated to water, sanitation and hygiene is translating into services that people can safely use and depend on, rather than simply producing infrastructure.
The PULSE Evidence Compendium 2026 identified limited and fragmented financing, weak visibility of sanitation and hygiene in budgets, incomplete releases, unclear institutional responsibilities and inadequate operation and maintenance financing as recurring challenges in the sector.
The evidence showed that projects explicitly identified as sanitation and hygiene-related accounted for less than 0.3 per cent of federal capital allocations between 2019 and 2023, highlighting difficulties in tracking public spending specifically targeted at these areas.
It also showed that capital releases across the Ministries of Water Resources, Environment, Health and Education were about 47 per cent of their combined capital budget in 2019 and 23 per cent in 2021, although the figures relate to broader capital portfolios and not sanitation and hygiene spending alone.
The compendium further reported an overall WASH sustainability index of 46 per cent, with household water supply at 44 per cent, household sanitation and hygiene at 39 per cent, WASH in schools at 46 per cent and WASH in health facilities at 53 per cent.
It noted that completing a borehole, toilet or handwashing facility does not automatically guarantee a sustainable service, as water facilities require maintenance and quality monitoring while sanitation systems require continued management and funding.
Mr Kolawale Banwo, Head of Advocacy, Policy and Communication at WaterAid, facilitated the WASH Lab, where WASH professionals, representatives of the Ministry of Water Resources, development partners and other stakeholders examined the points at which financing, procurement, coordination, maintenance and institutional responsibility can break down.
Participants also examined sanitation as a complete service chain covering containment, emptying, transportation, treatment and safe disposal or reuse, stressing that providing a toilet without a safe system for managing the waste does not constitute complete sanitation service delivery.
The discussions ultimately centred on how government and other actors can improve financing, coordination, accountability and maintenance so that WASH investments result in services that reach communities and continue to function.
NatureNews monitored the WASH discussions as stakeholders examined the practical steps needed to close the gap between public resources and sustainable WASH services at the last mile.
