Nigeria gets N41bn World Bank loand for water supply

The World Bank has approved a credit of US$250 million (about N41.25 billion) from the International Development Association (IDA) to help the Nigerian government continue its efforts to increase access to water supply and to improve the financial and management viability of existing water utilities.

A statement yesterday by the World Bank Nigeria office said “the funds will target the poor, urban population living in the state capitals and their surroundings, and will benefit some two million people.”

The statement said the credit will support the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project and respond to the Government of Nigeria’s goal of developing more effective mechanisms for social service delivery, particularly water service, as a means to address inequities in income and opportunities. It said funds will also help rehabilitate and build the water delivery infrastructure and institutional systems needed to expand access to water supply services for people in selected cities in Bauchi, Ekiti, and Rivers States.

“Today’s project builds on past experience which has shown that building water infrastructure without strengthening the capacity of the institutions responsible for managing water supply to the targeted areas does not lead to sustainable results,” it read in part.

“We therefore hope that the new strategy which puts more emphasis on this integrated approach will contribute to improve the health and economic well-being of the country’s poorest and more vulnerable particularly women and girls who spend a lot of time fetching water,” the statement quoted the Nigeria country representative of the bank, Marie Francoise MarieNelly as saying.

It added that a second project component will provide technical and financial assistance to state governments and water utilities in Kano, Gombe, Benue, Jigawa, Ondo, Abia, Bayelsa, Anambra, and Plateau states to help prepare them for large water supply investments.