DEVELOPMENT-NIGERIA:
Government Faces Vast Challenges in Water Provision
Sam Olukoya
LAGOS, Feb 17 (IPS) - Nigeria's Niger Delta region is one of the largest
wetlands in the world. It is a source of great irony, therefore, that people
living in the area struggle to get hold of clean drinking water: they take
what they can from creeks and rivers.
"To drink water in this village is a problem for us. As you come here
now, we can't give you the water to drink; if we give it to you we are
poisoning you," says Daniel Akpere of Okuokolo village.
Part of the blame for this situation is laid at the door of petroleum
companies which operate in the oil-rich region: activists accuse them of
polluting water supplies. The lack of potable water in the delta also points
to failures in government policy, however.
Nigeria's Ministry of Water Resources says efforts over the past century
to develop national water resources have not amounted to much: in 1999, only
30 percent of Nigerians had access to potable water.
Providing safe drinking water for all of the country's 120 million people
will require considerable investment in the construction of new dams and
water works - and in the repair of existing water facilities, most of which
are in a very bad state.
The commercial capital of Lagos would require the largest investment, as
about 10 percent of the population is concentrated in this city. Olumuyiwa
Coker, Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Water Corporation (LSWC),
says that in the next 10 to 15 years about two billion dollars will have to
be spent to meet the water needs of the city's growing number of residents.
But, funds for this investment are in desperately short supply.
"Production of water is extremely capital intensive and given the
population of Lagos State, there is no way the government can sustain such
an investment," observes Coker. Nigeria's other 35 states are also unable to
shoulder the burden of providing water for their populations.
The central government announced recently that it would assist cash
strapped states with their water programmes. President Olusegun Obasanjo has
unveiled a new funding formula under which the central government would
provide 50 percent of the money needed for all rural water projects - and 30
percent for urban projects.
The head of state said he hoped this plan would encourage states to
intensify efforts at providing water. Government also hopes that the funding
formula will move Nigeria closer to achieving one of the targets set out in
the millennium development goals, namely to ensure that the number of people
without sustainable access to safe drinking water is halved by 2015.
Admirable as the formula appears, some view it with scepticism. "Saying
it is one thing and actualizing it is another thing. We are yet to receive
anything from the federal government," says Coker.
He also opposes the idea that government should fund water projects
alone.
"I don't believe in injecting public funds into utilities. That model
does not work: government has no business in business - and (as) services
provided by utilities are really a business...you must run them as
business," Coker told IPS.
"Clearly the old model has failed and we need to look at new ways of
operating the industry such that it is socially responsible and also
efficiently run, so it meets the needs of the people."
Tunji Lardner Jnr, Senior Communications Adviser for the LSWC, says it
has started an initiative to encourage private sector participation in water
provision - and that this has already helped boost the water supply in
Lagos.
But, the increased availability of potable water in the commercial centre
is unlikely to be welcomed by everyone. Over the years, private water
vendors have taken advantage of inadequate supplies to make a fortune
selling drinking water to Nigerians. The cost of a day's supply of water
from these vendors is estimated to be the equivalent of what one would pay
for a month's supply of public water, if this was available.
Coker claims that the vendors have been vandalising water installations
to frustrate the LSWC's effort to provide potable water in Lagos: "We have
traced a lot of the vandalisation we have experienced to the informal
market...As LSWC has improved its performance, there has been a direct
correlation of a high level of vandalisation of our facilities."
No matter what the difficulties, however, authorities will not be able to
escape demands for better water provision - in Lagos and beyond. People in
many parts of northern Nigeria are also experiencing water shortages because
the advancing Sahara Desert has dried up some of their water sources. Lake
Chad - the largest lake in the country - has shrunk 60 percent in recent
years. (END/2004)
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