The World Bank has
urged state water agencies to put measures in place to meet expectations toward providing potable water for all Nigerians.
This was the major recommendation of participants at the ongoing Workshop on State Water Agencies Performance Assessment and Benchmarking in Abuja last Thursday.
Mr Glenn Pearce-Oros, Regional Team Leader, World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme, said although water is free, services provided towards accessing water was not free.
He said it was a matter for regret that poor cost recovery to water was high, as majority of Nigerians do not want to pay for water consumed.
Pearce-Oros stressed the need for all tiers of government to scale up access to water through deliberate funding, institutional strengthening and financial reorientation to recover cost.
He said non-revenue water through leaks, theft and inaccurate metering should be tackled, pointing out that this would enhance state water agencies‘ contributions towards internally generated revenue.
Regional Team Leader said there was the need for deliberate policy directions towards effective water sector reform, saying with the increasing population, Nigeria must do more to ensure water for all.
“As cities continue to grow at historic rates, basic services like water supply and sanitation are struggling to keep up.
“That is why many urban dwellers are forced to rely on more expensive alternatives such as water vendors, wells or bore holes.
“The ripple effect is that there are shallow wells all around the country and indiscriminate drilling of bore holes; this is affecting the surface and underground water resources, “ he said.
Pearce-Oros said with an effective water management system, pipeline damages, sanitation and drainage challenges would be tackled.
The World Bank Task Team Leader, Mr Pier Mantorani, said the group would continue to support and facilitate infrastructural reforms that would make developing nations be at par with developed ones.
“The World Bank cannot finance political will, commitment of state actors,but can finance institutional reforms for sustainable water services for all Nigerians.“
He said there was need for culture shift and believe nationwide that water should not be paid for, stressing that although water is free, the processes to making it available for all is not free.
Mr Benson Ajisegiri, Director, Water Sector Reform, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, said the ministry had created a data bank and census for water supply and sanitation for all water infrastructures in the country.
He said the ministry had embarked on capacity building and training at the local, state and federal government levels for water engineers and their stakeholders.
Ajisegiri said the ministry has also created monitoring and evaluation desks in all states‘ water agencies to access activities carried out with the aim of finding out what intervention is needed.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the International Energy Agency, said globally an average of 34 per cent of water produced ends up as non-revenue water.