70 million Nigerians lack safe water, says UNICEF

EARLY 70 million Nigerians lack access to
safe drinking water, the United Nations
Children Fund (UNICEF) said at the
weekend.
The Chief of Water and Sanitation sector,
UNICEF Nigeria, Mr. Kannan Nadar who
was represented by Dr. Boluwaji
Onalede WASH specialist, stated thus in
Abuja at the 2014 World Water Day.
She said a staggering 768 million people
do not have access to safe drinking
water worldwide, according to a joint
report from UNICEF and the World Health
Organisation(WHO) published in 2013.
The report, according to her, placed
Nigeria as the third country with most
people without access to safe water.
Onalede said with support from EU and
UKAid, over 1.9 million people gained
access to safe water in rural Nigeria in
2013 through its Water and Sanitation
Hygiene school programme.
The Minister of Water Resources, Mrs.
Sarah Ochekpe, called for collaborations
with stakeholders and agencies to tackle
the challenges of access to safe water,
sanitation and hygiene.
Ochekpe, who was represented by the
Director, Dam Operations Department in
the Ministry, Dr. Emmanuel Adanu, said
no nation can develop without adequate
supply of water and energy.
"We have over thirty dams in this
country. The ministry of power
conducted an engineering design of
these dams. It is hoped that a total of
about 147.60 mega watt will be
generated from these dams," the
minister said.
Also WaterAid Nigeria, an international
agency, said about 112 million Nigerians
lack access to basic sanitation and
hygiene.
Its Country Representative, Dr. Michael
Ojo, added that Nigeria loses N455 billion
annually to poor water, sanitation and
hygiene.
He called on government to increase
budgetary allocation to the water sector
to improve water service delivery.
"We want to see that money go to the
people who need it the most; the most
vulnerable in our society. To ensure that
the investment that is made go to those
who need the services the most," Ojo
said.


The Nation