World leaders
recently met in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to deliberate on how Africa can achieve water security in line with the Africa Water Vision 2025.
At the sixth Africa Water Week from July 18 to July 22, the leaders recalled that Vision 2025 for water security for African nations entailed access to sanitation, safe and adequate water supply.
In the light of this, former President Mwai Kibaki of Kenya urged African governments to work with civil society organisations and development partners to utilise water resources for human and economic development.
“Water is perhaps Africa’s greatest challenge; with the world’s biggest population and yet with only nine per cent of the world’s fresh water resources.
“It is urgent that the available resources are secured to save them from depletion,’’ he said.
Kibaki emphasised the need for trans-boundary cooperation among African nations to re-energise and maximise the opportunities of water and sanitation.
According to him, improving access to water and sanitation in Africa has been the commitment of the continent to providing water under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
To enliven the commitment, Ms Rhoda Tumusiime, Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture of African Union Commission, urged member states to identify methods of achieving water security on the continent.
She said the aspiration of Africa had been to develop an equitable, sustainable use and management of water resources.
Calling for more actions, Tanzanian Vice-President, Ms Samia Suluhu, called on African governments to tackle existing challenges in the sector and take advantage of available opportunities.
However, Nigerian Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu announced that the African Water Facility had committed 1.6 billion euros to finance water and sanitation projects in Africa.
He said that through the projects, no fewer than 3.2 million people would be able to access improved sanitation and another 2.8 million people would access improved water sources.
He also said member states had committed 922 million euros to the implementation of follow-up projects, which were relevant to total development of the sector.
“As part of its climate change strategy, the African Water Facility prioritises projects in water harvesting, conservation, storage, recycling and the use of renewable energy to power water stations and infrastructures,’’ he said
He expressed optimism that all member-states would reach a consensus on all deliberations, thereby taking the region to the next level.
He urged the member-states to redeem their pledges for project scale-up, envisaging that by the end of 2018, an estimated 44 million euros would be needed.
“I wish to note that pledges made by African countries in 2012 have not been paid up, with the sole exception of Burkina Faso.
“We want to thank the Nigerian government which recently committed one million dollars of which the disbursement is in process,’’ he said.
Sharing similar sentiments, Mr Bai-Mass Taal, Executive Secretary, the African Ministers Council on Water, called on member-states to increase their budgets for water to meet the SDGs on water and sanitation.
He said that there was no doubt that achieving the SDGs for water security and sanitation would require more pragmatic approach.
According to him, finance plays a major role towards meeting the goals but most African countries’ budgets have relegated the provision for water and sanitation.
“When you look at budgets for water in most African countries, it can never be in the top five; this is not good.
“Most leaders forget that water is a multi-sector issue; it cuts across agriculture, health, education, socio-economic issues, so we must stop this trend if we want to achieve the SDGs,’’ he noted.
He said that the week was a wake-up call for the region to begin to think outside the box for strategies that would help countries to scale up access to water for Africans.
In his view, Mr Amadou Faye, the President of African Ministers Council on Water, said that the choice of the week’s theme — “Achieving the SDGs on Water Security and Sanitation’’ — was to lay foundation for Africa to meet the SDGs.
He called for strengthened cooperation among countries to build stronger partnerships for the implementation of the council’s work plan.
At the end of various discussions during the week, African countries adopted a roadmap to achieve sustainable and universal access to safe water and sanitation on the continent.
They noted that the roadmap recognised the role of innovative financing and budgetary prioritisation for the water sector, sanitation and monitoring, agreeing that the adoption was in line with the efforts to realise the African Agenda 2063.
They unanimously expressed the belief that by increasing transparency and accountability in the sector, governments across Africa would be able to account for financial contributions on water security and sanitation.
They, nonetheless, called for the allocation of necessary finances as well as better governance through increased transparency and accountability.
According to them, member-states must step up efforts to realise the African Agenda 2063 on the “Africa We Want’’ because water is key to reducing poverty in Africa.
“There is need for us to put in place sound policies, legal and regulatory frameworks to support investments from various sources in water, sanitation and hygiene,’’ they said in a communiqué.
Entitled: “The Dar es Salaam Roadmap for Achieving the N’gor Commitments on Water Security and Sanitation in Africa’’, stakeholders believe that the gathering of African leaders to discuss water and sanitation challenges represented a political commitment at the highest level in that regard.
Tosin Kolade writes for News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)