African Water Ministers Launch Project On Water, Sanitation

African ministers on water
    have ended their meeting in Abuja with the launching of a Pan African Monitoring and Evaluation project to improve access to water and sanitation in the continent.
The project was spearheaded by the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) and in partnership with the African Development Bank (AFDB).
This was the thrust at the launch of the establishment of a monitoring and reporting system for the water sector in Africa project.
The ministers called for more commitment from all stakeholders to monitor progress made in creating for the water sector in Africa project.
Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources and Chairman, African Water Facility Governing Council, Mrs Sarah Ochekpe, said that the challenges of water resources and sanitation was a priority for all member states.
Mrs. Ochekpe said that the project marked a new milestone in Africa’s water and sanitation sector and at the global level in line with the quest for data revolution and evidence base policy making.
According to her, there is a need to develop a robust and harnonised national basin and regional water sector monitoring and reporting to enable AMCOW carry out its duties effectively.
The minister said that the project will also address the gaps and challenges where African states use different data management methodologies and standards which do not encourage peer review of countries.
She said that it was her conviction that every government in African including Nigeria would value credible monitoring and evaluation information on which sound policies and direction can be made in the sector.
AMCOW’s Executive Secretary, Bai Masi Taal, said the organization remain committed to implement priorities aimed at fulfilling the objectives of the Africa water vision 2025 and other declarations related to post 2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Taal said it was important to note that monitoring evaluation and reporting remained a very critical and important piece to meeting goals on water and sanitation.