The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has requested Minister of Water Resources and Rural Development, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, to “explain why Nigeria’s water and sanitation infrastructure has continued to deteriorate and millions of Nigerians have to resort to drinking water from contaminated sources with deadly health consequences, despite the authorities’ claims to have spent trillions of naira of budgetary allocations on the sector since the return of democracy in 1999.”
The organisation said, “Many toilets in public offices are out of order because of lack of water while millions of Nigerians remain desperate for water in their homes, often resorting to contaminated sources and drilling their own boreholes that can become easily mixed with sewage, with negative environmental impacts, and devastating for people’s health.”
The organization, therefore, requested Adamu to “use his leadership position to provide, within 14 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter detailed information on the spending on specific water and sanitation projects and their locations carried out by the Ministry of Water Resources and Rural Development for the following years: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 (1999-2016); as well as details of allocations to the 36 states of the federation.”
The organisation said, “Should Engr Adamu fail to provide the information within 14 days, SERAP would take all appropriate legal actions to compel the government to act on this matter.”
In an open letter dated March 2, 2018, and signed by SERAP Deputy Director, Timothy Adewale, the organisation expressed “serious concern that millions of Nigerians do not have access to clean and potable water and adequate sanitation.
“There is no water to show for the huge budgetary allocations and purported spending and investment in the sector since the return of democracy in 1999. Successive governments have failed to improve affordability of water for millions of low-income Nigerians, thereby denying them access to water.”
The letter read in part: “Contractors handling water projects are reportedly engaging in schemes like the deliberate use of substandard pipes, among others, to make profit, leading to loss of water. This dearth of water also affects sanitation. The large number of broken down water facilities across the country has hindered effective water supply to the citizens.
“Millions of Nigerians (mostly children) lie sick, bodies ravaged by cholera, typhoid fever, dysentery among other diseases. An estimated 194,000 Nigerian children under the age of five die annually from these preventable diseases.
“There is almost no state and/or local government in Nigeria without abandoned water projects or one whose construction has gone on forever, creating a veritable opening for fraud and assuring the continued suffering of many.
“The Federal Ministry of Water Resources is responsible for large water resources development projects and water allocation between states. The right to water is a human right, which places certain responsibilities upon the government including your ministry to ensure that people can enjoy sufficient, safe, accessible and affordable water, without discrimination.
“Nigeria has received donations running into several billions of dollars from the African Development Bank, the European Union, UNICEF, USAID, World Bank, among others, to implement water projects without any feasible improvement on access to water. The African Development Bank has invested over $905million in the sector since 1971.