Public water system fails as govt spends billions
• FCT, Kano, Kogi, Kebbi, Oyo, others hit by shortage • Lagos needs 540 million gallons, produces 210 million • Only 10,000 Enugu residents access potable water • No water supply in Abia since 2007
From Femi Ibirogba ( Head, AgroEconomy), Lawrence Njoku ( Enugu), Gordi Udeajah ( Umuahia), Rauf Oyewole ( Bauchi), Anietie Akpan ( Calabar), Charles Akpeji ( Jalingo), Seun Akingboye ( Akure), Rotimi Agboluaje ( Ibadan), Tina Hassan Abeku ( Abuja), Ahmadu Idris ( Birnin- Kebbi), Murtala Adewale ( Kano) and Ibrahim Obansa ( Lokoja)
DESPITE billions of naira allocated yearly for the provision of potable water, Nigeria remains immersed in poor infrastructure for collection, treatment and distribution.
Amid the water scarcity, Adebayo Alao, Head of Water Sanitation and Hygiene ( WASH) and Acting Director of Programmes, Wateraid Nigeria, shocked watchers recently when he quoted data by the National Bureau of Statistics ( NBS) showing that access to water had increased from 68 per cent to 70 per cent.
Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu, however, contradicted this claim, when he said: “Access to public water supply declined from 32 per cent in 1990 to less than 7 per cent in 2015,” with marginal improvement since then.
In 2020 alone, N39 billion was approved for the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, yet little progress appeared to have been made in the provision of clean water. Blaming states and local governments, Adamu had made “the fact very clear” that his ministry “is not directly responsible for the provision of potable water to the citizens. That responsibility lies with the states and local governments.”
In Lagos, with a population of over 20 million residents, it is estimated that less than 30 per cent of the people have access to public water, as the majority depend on private boreholes, wells and packaged table water.
At the Kosofe area, residents reportedly wrote an open letter to Governor Babajide Sanwo- Olu lamenting that the community has been cut off from water supply. Also, from Ilupeju to Ajah, Somolu to Surulere, FESTAC Town to Okokomaiko, Idimu to Ejigbo, among others, public water supply is so erratic, people no longer depend on it.
“would no doubt have a spiraling effect on the cost of living, transportation, commodity items, and other areas of peoples’ lives that are essential for meaningful living.”
Accusing the Federal Government of “planning to increase the burden of the people”, Ogunyemi asked: “What stops us from fixing our refineries all these years? Buhari’s administration has been around for five years now, and all they keep telling us each time they tinker with the pump price is that they would use the fund generated from what they saved from subsidy to address the problems of the refineries. But none of the refineries can be said to work up to 50 per cent capacity.”
He added: “We need to buckle up but we know no government will budge unless pressures are brought to bear and I believe at the appropriate time, those who know how to bring that pressure will come up.”
Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC) might protest the increase. NLC President Ayuba Wabba had on Tuesday in Abuja declared: “The Nigeria Labour Congress rejects any further hike in electricity tariff, pump price of petrol and other essential public utility charges. The NLC is fully ready to mobilise our people to resist attempts by anyone to impose modern- day slavery on Nigerians – be they distribution companies ( Discos) or regulators of public utilities.”
The Guardian had reported in May that Nigerians might have to brace up for an increase in the pump price of fuel as oil prices began to head towards $ 40. This followed the easing of lockdown measures by countries, which showed signs of gradual recovery in fuel demand, supported by ongoing output cuts.
With oil prices making a rally, there are concerns for consumers and the real sector. Industry observers had urged the Federal Government to make pronouncements that provide clarity on where, when, and how Nigeria would do away with petroleum subsidy.
Nigeria’s Bonny Light Crude hit $ 41.62 per barrel yesterday.
The Federal Government said in March that it had bowed to long- standing pressure to restructure the downstream oil sector and had therefore removed oil subsidy after the country was hit by lower oil prices, which placed more pressure on its foreign exchange reserves.
Precisely, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( LCCI) and Transparency International ( TI), among others, asked the presidency to clarify terms for the subsidy removal.
The pressure groups also questioned the resolve of the NNPC on the subsidy, wondering if the declaration is “enforceable since the Petroleum Industries’ Bill ( PIB) is not in- sight anytime soon?”
The Muhammadu Buhari administration moved the petrol price peg of N145/ litre to N125 in March this year, the first time the price would be adjusted since it was reviewed in 2016, from N86 per litre to N145 by the President on his assumption of office.
With no new template for the month of May, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had stated that the cost of petrol would be reviewed monthly in accordance with the fluctuation of crude oil price in the international market.
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