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• Mulls tunneling to tackle challenge
• UN tasks nations on access
The Federal Government has blamed the nation’s poor water supply on improper planning of such schemes by state governments.The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who spoke yesterday at a press conference in Abuja to celebrate the World Water Day today, maintained that it was the duty of states to provide portable water to consumers.
His words: “The laws of the land say the responsibility to provide portable water rests on the state and local governments. What the Federal Government does is to render assistance from time to time and provide good policy. The Federal Ministry of Water Resources does not own a water board, buy chemicals or alum. It is usually done at the state level.”
To address the challenge, the minister hinted that government was ready to integrate tunnelling into its national development needs. He noted that though the concept was not new in the country, Adamu, however, submitted that government would embrace it as an integral part of its development plans in future.
Also yesterday, the United Nations (UN) charged nations to work towards making more people have access to clean and safe water.In a goodwill message to mark today’s event, the global body noted that 1.8 billion people use contaminated water, thereby putting them at the risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.
To underscore its seriousness for the issue, the UN in 2015 launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure everyone has access to safe water by 2030 as part of efforts to eradicate extreme poverty.
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