By Femi Akinola and Grace Samuel
Life on Earth would be impossible without water, especially fresh water. The most significant component of all living things is water.
There are lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and underground aquifers that provide water for humans and animals and allow farmers among the population to irrigate their crops.
Most of the planet Earth is covered in water. But, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, “only 0.5% of water on Earth is useable and available fresh water.”
This means only a small amount of fresh water is enough for life on Earth. Much of Earth’s freshwater is becoming polluted due to human activities or inaccessible due to increased demand and climate change.
Meanwhile, failure on the part of the federal and state governments in Nigeria to provide drinkable water for the majority of the population to use and drink has opened fresh investment opportunities for people who have money, including blue-chip companies and ordinary Nigerians, to invest in the sector. Those who ventured and invested in water business are today enjoying huge returns.
Although the safety of most packaged and sachet water being sold in Nigerian cities and adherence to regulations by the authorities remain significant concerns of the people.
Findings into the booming water business in the country showed that some multinational companies such as Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), more popular with Coca-Cola brand of beverages, Nestle Nigeria Plc and host of others are making fortunes from their investment in water business.
Our findings revealed that in the past decade, Nigeria’s bottled and sachet water industry witnessed rapid growth, emerging as one of the most lucrative segments of the country’s fast-moving consumer goods.
Today, there are over 200 brands of packaged bottled water in Nigerian markets and over 1000 brands of sachet water.
Producers are battling for market share in a lucrative but highly competitive packaged water market. However, many of these brands are produced in an unhygienic environment.
Findings revealed that various factors fuelled the surge in demand for bottled and sachet water. These factors, including the Nigerian government’s failure to provide regular drinkable water to the teeming population and the per capita consumption of bottled water across the country, have steadily risen from less than 3 litres in 2011 to over 12 litres in 2020.
These and other factors inspired the proliferation of major bottled water brands and smaller local producers.
For example, the industry has risen from fewer than 10 brands in the early 2000s to over 100 in 2024. This is a testimony that the water business thrives in the country.
A Market Growth Statistics Research by Statista shows that the amount of bottled water consumed in Nigeria increased significantly from 450 million litres in 2011 to 2.5 billion in 2020.
Within the time in focus, the industry revenue increased from about N7 billion in 2011 to N200 billion in 2020, showing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 40%.
The fact that the packaged water industry has witnessed big expansion is an understatement. This rapid growth trend is expected to persist, with projections suggesting that the market could reach a value up to N500 billion by 2025.
Checks around the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, revealed that the demand for bottled and sachet water in the city is high but residents of the Federal Capital City are concious of clean and safe drinking water.
The surge in demand can be attributed to current heatwaves experienced in the past coupls of months particularly in the Northern part of the country. Business of bottled and sacahet water thrives in the FCT.
The FCDA, like state governments across the country, has not been abale to meet water demand of the increasing population of the Abuja city.
Hence, people who can afford setting up water business are producing bottled and sachet water.
They capitalised on the failure of the Water Authority in the city to meet people’s water demand and they are smiling to their banks everyday.
In and around Abuja city, there are dozens of bottled and sachet water producers whereby many are producing packaged water in a n unhygienic environment.
A visit to Mantis Table Water in Kado-Kuchi, Abuja, showed that to determine quality of the packaged water in the market, the producing bottled water company must have put in place several innovative strategies and technologies that need to be implemented, such as filtration systems, disinfection methods, and monitoring systems, to ensure that the water meet quality standards.
In the FCT, there used to be high profit margin for a bag of pure water sold by retailers. The speed at which a bag of sachet water is being sold in the city is incomparable to any other products in small shops.
Usman who runs a kiosk shop near Utako market, Abuja, said he buys a bag of water from the producers at the rate of N400 and sell each sachet at the rate of N50 and gained N600 on ech bag.
He explained that sometimes, he sell a bag of pure water at almost 30 minutes, noting that sachet water is the most demanded product in his shop.
In Lagos, findings about bottled and sachet water in the megacity and commercial nerve of the country revealed there is large concentration of packaged water producer in the city.
However, majority of these package water producers are known to cut corners and they exposed consumers to various water – related health risks such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhoea, among others.
Mrs. Agnes Nwachukwu, a biologist, says that potable water must be free of pathogens (disease causing organisms) and must not have bad taste, odour (smell), colour and turbidity (cloudness).
Nwachikwu also said water must not contain harmful chemicals, minerals, domestic sewage and industrial waste, warning that most of the package waters consumed in the country are not properly treated and are therefore, harmful to public health.
The treatment and production of table water, she noted, must include aeration, filtration, disinfection and packaging.
Omolara Fadairo, a medical practitioner, also expressed worries over the quality and safety of packaged water, lamenting that consumption of untreated water is responsible for most of the water-related ailments troubling many Nigerians.
Fadairo raised doubts over the authenticity or genuiness of the NAFDAC registration numbers on most of the packaged bottled and sachet water brands that flooded Nigerian markets.
She opined that it seem immune system of Nigerians appears to have adapted to the water they consume, the death toll arising from water-borne diseases would have been higher.
A packaged water distributor confirmed that indeed, most of the packaged water in circulationis unfit for human consumption.
The packaged water distributor, who incidentially have worked in three packaged water producing companies, said that the water sample which producers of packaged watertake to National Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) when seeking registration will usually meet standard.
According to the water distributor, after securing registration from NAFDAC, he said most of the producers will go back to their factories to produce water which does not pass through the same treatment like the one presented to NAFDAC.
He alleged that the regulatory agency no longer carries out routine checks on water producers and their companies as it used to in the past, noting that this allow every Dick and Harry to becoming packaged water producer.
Why packaged water business thrives in Nigeria? Apart from government inadequacies in this sector, increase in household population and easy production of sachet water, its accessibility and cheap price to the people created a ready market for the producers.