By Obiabin Onukwugha
Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, has called for intensified efforts to address challenges facing water and sanitation in Nigeria.
Utsev made the call at the workshop on ‘Urban Water Supply Sector Reform in Nigeria: Progresses, Challenges, and Way Forward’, organised by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation in collaboration with development partners.
The partners include the World Bank, African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, and the European Union, and supported by France through the Agence Française de Développement.
Addressing participants, the Minister, who was represented by the Director of Water Supply and Support Services at the ministry, Babarinde Mukaila, described access to quality water services as “one of the major challenges confronting many African countries.”
He said increasing water scarcity, population growth, climate change variability and financing gaps have continued to threaten the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals on water and sanitation. “As we all know, provision of quality water services remains one of the biggest challenges in many countries in Africa, and Nigeria is no exception,” he said.
Minister submitted that the increasing water scarcity and risks associated with population growth and climate change variability, combined with the financing gap experienced in many countries, the task to meet the SDGs for Water (Goal 6.1) and Sanitation (Goal 6.2) is enormous.
He noted that concerted effort is needed through large infrastructure investments in water and sanitation, major governance and policy reforms, and an integrated approach towards sustainable water management and more importantly partnership.
The minister noted that development partners, including the French Development Agency, World Bank, African Development Bank, United Nations Children’s Fund, Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, WaterAid, JICA, Islamic Development Bank and the European Union, had financed several programmes aimed at improving infrastructure facilities and services to the urban and rural populations over the years.
He listed the interventions to include the first, second and third National Urban Water Sector Reform Projects in Enugu, Kaduna, Ogun, Lagos, Cross River, Bauchi and Ekiti states; the Urban Water and Sanitation Improvement Project in Oyo and Taraba states; Zaria Water and Sanitation Expansion Project; Urban Water Sector Reform and Port Harcourt Water Supply and Sanitation Project; Urban Water Sector Reform and Akure Water Supply and Sanitation Project; and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sub-Programs for Yobe and Osun states.
“While these programmes have helped in increasing access to improved water and sanitation services, the challenge is to attain universal coverage and improved reliability and sustainability of services with an estimated 30 per cent and 56 per cent of citizens still having no access to basic water supply services and basic sanitation services respectively (FMWRS, WASHNORM 2019),” he said.
The minister explained that the workshop was convened to examine implementation challenges, identify successful strategies and draw lessons from local and international experiences.
“The outcomes of this workshop will inform my Ministry and Development Partner Group on how to structure future interventions,” he stated.
France Ambassador to Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States, Marc Fonbaustier, reaffirmed France’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s efforts to improve urban water services.
Fonbaustier who spoke on behalf of the Development Partners Group for the Water and Sanitation Sector in Nigeria, commended the progress made by Nigeria over the past decade through reforms, infrastructure investments and stronger collaboration among stakeholders.
“Over the past decade, Nigeria has made significant efforts to improve urban water services through major reforms, substantial investments in infrastructure, strengthened governance frameworks, and enhanced collaboration between the Federal Government, State governments, water utilities and development partners,” he said.
He also highlighted that many urban residents still depend on alternative sources of water supply, saying, “Many urban households still rely on private boreholes, water vendors, and tanker services, which are often costly, unreliable, and do not always provide safe water for domestic use.”
Fonbaustier stressed that expanding access to affordable and sustainable water services remains a critical priority, describing the workshop as an important platform for addressing existing gaps and sharing practical solutions.
He disclosed that France, through the Agence Française de Développement, had “remained committed to Nigeria’s vision of reliable and resilient urban water services.”
