No fewer than 1,971 water supply facilities have been constructed in 19 states benefiting from the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) programme in the country.
Mr Danjuma Madaki, the Director, Water Supply, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said on Thursday, September 1, 2022, that PEWASH was also constructing additional 75 projects.
According to him, the PEWASH programme is a partnership intervention model among stakeholders, tiers of government, communities, and development partners toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria.
“The Pilot programme was implemented in Kano and Ogun States, while scale-up implementation was carried out in Imo, Katsina, Jigawa, Plateau, Zamfara, Sokoto, Ondo, Osun, Delta, Bauchi, and Kaduna.
“Other states are Gombe, Kwara, Nasarawa, Oyo, Cross River and Ekiti, this was after meeting eligibility and readiness criteria for selection.’’
He said from the water projects, a total of 19,694,380 litres was produced daily, serving a population of 3,729,000 people in the benefitting communities.
The director said the impact of combined PEWASH implementation by the Federal Government and participating states, since inception could be felt with more people having access to safe water.
Danjuma said that the water supply sub-sector had witnessed a positive turnaround since the Ministry was created in 1976, under the current administration.
He said efforts and initiatives had seen an increase in population with access to safely managed drinking water services from 3.7 per cent in 2016 to 13 per cent in 2021.
“This implies that additional 21 million Nigerians drink water from an improved source that is accessible on premises, available when needed and free from faecal and priority chemical contamination.’’
On the ministry’s response to COVID-19 Pandemic, Madaki said 1,500 community personnel were trained on the Operation and Maintenance of Solar Powered Borehole Systems.
He said the ministry provided support to State Water Agencies to improve operations and also provided 370 Contactless Hand washing Facilities with soap and bottles of sanitiser.
It would be recalled that the PEWASH Strategy (2016–2030) was formally inaugurated by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in November 2016.
However, 34 states have signed the PEWASH Protocol, with only Borno and Rivers yet to sign it.
By Tosin Kolade
