By Fatima Saka
The minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu has said that the essence of Village level Operation and Maintenance (VLOM), is to address the baseline challenges and create communication channels with 100% functionality in line with the Sustainable Development Goals.
Adamu made this statement on Tuesday in Abuja, through Mr. Emmanuel Awe Director of water quality control and sanitation federal ministry of water resources at Sensitization Workshop on Village Level Operation and Maintenance (VLOM).
Speaking on, the minister revealed that the ministry in collaboration with UNICEF has designed the concept of VLOM in the three States under the ongoing OGIS ASWA II projects In Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.
He further stated that other States have keyed Into the implementation of the plans and about 758 hand pumps and 344 solar boreholes have been repaired by local Area Machines (LAMs) In the States.
Related Posts
“The 2021 Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM), only 53% publicly owned water facilities are functional and 22% broke down within the first one year of installation. The report also shows that only 11% of water facilities are dependable with respect to their operation and maintenance.
“The lack of maintenance of water facilities results in frequent breakdown and abandonment which is further compounded by lack of adequate monitoring of the water facilities and communication between benefiting communities and those in authority,” he stated.
Also in her keynote, Dr. Jane Bevan, the chief WASH of UNICEF said the SDG 6.1 goals is for everybody to have access to quality water, and sufficient quantity across the country.
According to her, it begins with adequacy, acceptability, affordability, and availability. important things to be considered when looking at water provision.
” The reasons why a lot of these sustainability issues arise can be as you see it across the whole value chain. It can be just right. It can be something to do with the casing quality, and then all of the different parts of the company in perspective around the water system.
“How are we affording the operation and maintenance and when you look at the overall Sustainability Index for any given water scheme, you can say that in terms of household water supply, we get 44% for the whole country.
“The other sectors are also at about the same level and the overall wash Sustainability Index for Nigeria at the moment stands at 46%,” She added
