FG gets additional N62bn for water supply

Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist for the World Bank in Nigeria, Hassan Kida, has said, adding that $350 million will be used to fund projects that are currently in the design stage, and $50 million USD will go into building capacity of water consumers in rural regions.Kida said another $400 million USD worth of World […]

Lead Water and Sanitation Specialist for the World Bank in Nigeria, Hassan Kida, has said, adding that $350 million will be used to fund projects that are currently in the design stage, and $50 million USD will go into building capacity of water consumers in rural regions.
Kida said another $400 million USD worth of World Bank-supported projects was already under way in Nigeria.
The bank is one of the major financiers of Nigeria’s water sector, along with the African Development Bank, the European Union, European Investment Bank, the US Agency for International Development and the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
Kida added that inadequate funding for water utilities, and the utilities’ inability to generate sustainable income, continued to be an obstacle to expanding access to clean drinking water in the country.
Among other things, lenders in the past have criticized overstaffing at almost all of Nigeria’s state utilities, where there are an average of 70 employees for every 1,000 water consumers.
Previous estimates indicated that Nigeria would need to spend $1.3 billion USD annually to meet the UN Millennium Development Goal targets on water and sanitation by the 2015 deadline. Currently, the country spends only $500 million USD annually on water sector programs.
At least 54 percent of Nigerians have access to water supply, and that figure is higher by 74 percent in urban areas. The country’s non-revenue water rate is 50 percent.