Africa: Poverty aggravates Water crisis in Nigeria

As water scarcity keeps rising worldwide, the situation is even worse in the Nigerian region. The actual reality of Nigeria is that even today, clean water is not available to many communities.

This enduring inadequacy results in a continuous decline in public funding for the production and supply of drinking water. In 1985, the policy problem can be looked back, when the former military president Ibrahim Babaginda executed a structural reform plan of the World Bank which suggested a reduction in public expenditure.

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Afterwards, Public funding has declined sharply. This water crisis is exacerbated due to poverty. Most Nigerians struggle to pay for clean water as they have low incomes amid competitive demands.

A shortfall in transparent government financial backing in the hydro sector resulted in preventable deaths due to water-borne diseases such as cholera.

According to Emmanuel Adanu, professor and director of hydrology at Nigeria’s National Institute of Water Resources in Kaduna, Dams, the most crucial water collection resources for citizens, are not being built as the government believes the construction is highly-priced.

As per our reports from the last survey dam, he said that Nigeria has 400 dams in total. He also added that the US has more than 8000 dams.

The expert included:
There is an urgent requirement for dams, but the construction cost is so high that financing becomes a problem. It is a big challenge. However, the government recognizes the importance of dams. But, there is competing demand for the same money across the industry.

The effect of this economic drawback on citizens in urban and rural areas is observed intently by local NGOs that operate directly to offer them water. Other funding authorities are Nigerian officers of foreign development partners, including the United Nations Development Programme and WaterAid.

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According to Williams Ngwakwe, coordinator of Golden Change, the disparity is stark even withinside the federal capital. Golden Change is an NGO that operates on WASH projects for communities across the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

An NGO that provided water to a network in a ‘difficult-to-reach’ location stated approximately 60% of the nation’s population don’t have drinking water.

He added that citizens residing within urban areas are worse off than their rural slums. Ngwakwe noted people are failing to have water as these slums are not linked to the water pipe networks. Many citizens depend on water trucks and vendors, at times from unreliable sources.

He informed the ones residing in the rural side don’t even have the privilege to purchase water. Therefore, they depend on wells, but unfortunately, even the groundwater is degrading because of climate change.

He highlighted that rivers, which can be another option, are also drying up. As a result, they need to go on long routes to fetch water.

He recounted that the Chida community in the Kwali area of FCT uses a lot of cassava (a starchy tuber) but never wash the vegetables with water. They peel them and then grind them due to water scarcity.

He said if they find some little water used for bathing and drinking.

Imagine what a girl will experience during menstruation. There are long-term consequences for the outbreak of illness. He said cholera, among other things, devastated FCT, Kano State, and Bauchi.

Ngwakwe included:
For more than ten years, the present outbreak has been the worst in Nigeria. Over 24 states are affected. Our death toll is highly alarming, exceeding 2,000. Climate change has lowered groundwater levels in most areas, causing water costs to skyrocket. As of January 2021, 20 water pouch bags cost only 80 Nigerian Nairas (15 rupees) in urban areas. By October 2021, prices have risen to 250 Nigerian Nairas per sachet. Bottled water and cans have also become more costly. The cost of a truck with 20 litres of water, which used to be N100-150, is now about N300.

In Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial centre, wealthy people dig self-propelled water to have water for domestic purposes. However, those who cannot afford water bottles buy water bags. Slum-dwellers drink from various public taps given by the government and politicians.

 

 

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