By many accounts, dearth of potable water has exacerbated economic challenges and fueled the spread of waterborne diseases like typhoid and cholera.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reports a 220 per cent increase in suspected cholera cases in Nigeria in 2024.
With Nigeria’s population exceeding 200 million, only about two-thirds have access to clean drinking water services despite the country’s abundant water resources.
Analysts argue that beyond contributing to waterborne diseases, the lack of potable water has consistently affected school attendance and performance, especially in rural areas and urban suburbs.
The impact is particularly severe for girls, who are often responsible for fetching water.
Analysts argue that this could be a contributing factor to the high number of girls out of school in Nigeria, which UNICEF reports as 7.6 million girls.
The importance of potable water is undeniable, as highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which aims to ensure universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.
Achieving this will enhance public health, stimulate economic growth, improve education and social well-being and foster environmental sustainability.
Consequently, stakeholders and experts have emphasised the need for the government to allocate sufficient resources to ensure access to safe drinking water and sanitation, recognising them as fundamental human rights.
They assert that resources are necessary to address the acute shortage of water supply caused by ageing public water infrastructure, a shortage of essential water treatment chemicals such as alum and chlorine and an erratic power supply.
More so, international water politics cannot be go unheeded.
Report from the Global Water Forum indicates that water security has become a central feature of the global policy agenda.
“Climate change, population growth, and pollution are altering the distribution of water resources and the political control of these resources is becoming increasingly contested.
“These and other water security threats are a source of conflict not only within countries but across international boundaries.
“International water politics describes the interactions between governments, non-government organisations, researchers and other actors that determine how and whether water management issues are addressed,’’ the report said.
In Nigeria, reports indicate increasing budgetary allocations to the water sector to address the existing challenges, but stakeholders observe that many states still have aging water facilities, limiting the sector’s performance.
For instance, in the 2017 budget, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources received a total allocation of N92 billion, with N85.1 billion dedicated to capital expenditure.
In 2018, the allocation increased by 68.6 per cent, reaching N155.1 billion, with N147.2 billion designated for capital expenditure.
However, in 2019, the allocation dropped to N100.5 billion, but saw a slight increase in 2020 of 0.01 per cent to ₦100.6 billion. Since then, there has been a steady rise in the budget.
In 2023, President Bola Tinubu’s administration allocated N242.2 billion; in 2024, the allocation increased by 22.5 per cent to N296.64 billion.
By Martha Agas, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)