Experts warn 70% of Nigerians rely on unsafe water sources

The Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE) on Thursday revealed that 70% of Nigerians rely on unsafe water sources.

The report, titled Dry Taps: A Damning Verdict on the State of Water Utilities in Nigeria, presents findings from fact-finding missions to water utilities in six states: Enugu, Edo, Lagos, Oyo, Kogi, and Kano.

The reports were conducted by Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), New Life Community Care Initiative (NELCCI), Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF), Ecumenical Water Network Africa (EWN-A), Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN), and the Socio-Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDEC), in collaboration with AUPCTRE.

The Executive Director of RDI, Philip Jakpor, disclosed this in Abuja at a press briefing, saying: “The investigations we conducted exposed what is already in plain sight. Now we can lay the blame for the perilous state of water in Nigeria exactly where it should be.

“The government at the state and federal levels continues to vote money for the water sector, yet there is nothing to show that the funds are used for what they are meant for. It is a wicked strategy across the board to ultimately collapse the water utilities and pave the way for their privatisation.”

The report highlighted crumbling infrastructure, inadequate funding for water treatment, erratic power supply leading to high costs of alternative power, manpower shortages, and unpaid workers.

In the public presentation, AUPCTRE General Secretary, Comrade Sikiru Waheed, explained that although the research covered only six states, it provides a representative snapshot of the nationwide situation.

In his remarks, the Executive Director of EDEN, Barrister Chima Williams, accused state governments of paying lip service to water provision.

He said: “What we have found in all the states we visited is that the state governments are only sloganeering on ensuring their citizens have unfettered access to potable water. It is a ruse. How else can one explain their neglect of water utilities that were built with billions of naira? It is shocking and very depressing.

Also speaking at the event, the Executive Director of CFSF, Comrade Sani Baba, cautioned: “If the government continues on this trajectory of neglect of the water utilities, then a public health disaster of unimaginable proportions is inevitable. The appetite for privatisation sweeping across the country from Lagos to Kano and the other states is a wind that will ultimately blow no good because it does not concern itself with the situation in the rural communities.”

While presenting findings from their respective states, the Coordinator of EWNA, Reverend Kolade Fadahunsi, the Executive Director of SERDEC, Tijani Abdulkareem, and the Executive Director of NELCCI, Florence Ifeanyi-Aneke, said that the disturbing situation in the water utilities was demoralising staff, many of whom are near retirement, and there are no plans in place to replace them.

In Kano, the three waterworks combined only meet the needs of less than 10 per cent of the population in the city. The case is similar in Enugu, where the previous administration is said to have voted billions of naira for expanding the network of mains, but there is nothing on the ground to show what the funds were used for. Currently, the Enugu Water Corporation has only 11,234 customers.

At the Eleyele Scheme in Ibadan, a disturbing sight on the premises is the number of electricity generators used to pump water due to the erratic power supply. In Edo State, the Ikpoba River Dam, which is supposed to feed the headworks in Ugbowo and Iyaro, has been left fallow. Some privately owned fish ponds were also sited within the vicinity. The dam, which used to produce over 90 MGD, was confirmed to be no longer operational as the pumping facility had been abandoned.

Kogi State is also in the red as the Greater Lokoja Waterworks and all other zonal sub-station offices are not producing water and have been on lockdown since the 2022 floods damaged them.

In Lagos, about N760 million was committed to the rehabilitation of the 48 mini and micro waterworks in 2017 following findings that there was already a deficit of 500 million gallons per day in water supply in the state. Subsequently, there have been votes for the sector, but disturbingly, nothing on the ground suggests that the money was put to good use, as most of the waterworks are comatose, impaired, or at best operating far below their installed capacities. The Adiyan and Iju Waterworks visited in the course of this investigation work sub-optimally.

The groups also made recommendations to the government on how to address the water crisis. They include the need for the declaration of a state of emergency in the water sector and the integration of broad public participation in formulating plans to achieve universal access.

They also want the federal and state governments to reject all forms of water privatisation and commodification and for them to fully uphold the human right to water as an obligation of the government, representing the people.

They demanded a probe into the billions of naira in loans for the countless water schemes littered across the federation and the strengthening of public accountability in the management of water resources, among others.