Nigeria’s 16-Year Water Resources Roadmap was motivated by the global urgency to tackle scarcity. Unfortunately, the policy, and several others addressing water challenges, have faced setbacks due to a lack of diligent implementation and political will, AMEH OCHOJILA reports.

In the heart of Benue State lies Aioga Oglewu, a small village surrounded by vast greenery. The village exemplifies resilience in the face of adversity, as its people’s daily struggle for water defines their lives.

At 78, Eneoja Oga embodies this struggle. Her weathered hands and wobbly legs speak volumes of decades of daily 12-kilometre walk to Ijaha Atilo’s pool – the only water source available for the indigenes, their livestock, and bush animals.

As the rainy season fades each year, Aioga and neighbouring communities, including Anwule, Eboya, and Alaglanu, among other communities, are subjected to a desperate search for water as their only available pond dries up, leaving them dependent on unpredictable rainfall.

Consequently, this dire situation redefines residents’ activities, complicates sanitation levels, and affects general production, as much of their days are spent searching for water.

The consistent annual trauma of Aioga Oglewu underscores the depth of the water crisis in rural communities across Nigeria, where over 25 per cent lack access to safe drinking water, as highlighted in UNESCO reports.

It was with the intent to address this problem that the Nigerian government introduced initiatives such as the 16-year Water Resources Roadmap and the National Water Resources Master Plan, which was launched in 2016.

The Master Plan, originally developed in 1995 with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), outlined a long-term strategy divided into three phases. The first phase, scheduled for between 2016 and 2020, targeted 100,000 hectares of irrigated land, the second phase, 2021 to 2025, aimed for 170,000 hectares, while the third phase, spanning between 2026 and 2030, is projected to develop 225,000 hectares, totalling 500,000 hectares by 2030.

The roadmap also includes re-equipping Rural Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), improving road access to project sites, and conducting infrastructure inventories. It identifies funding strategies and investment requirements, seeking support through government budgets, grants, and partnerships.

Despite these plans, however, implementation of the initiative has remained a mirage, hampered by bureaucratic hurdles, poor coordination, and inadequate funding. Consequently, Nigeria’s hydroelectric power potential remains largely untapped.

According to the master plan, only 1,930 MW out of a potential 12,220 MW has been harnessed at Kainji, Jebba, and Shiroro dams, while 17 other dams with a combined capacity of over 200 MW remained undeveloped.

Additionally, four dams under study – Mambilla (3,050 MW), Gurara II (360 MW), Dasin Hausa (150 MW), and Zungeru (760 MW), hold a potential of 4,320 MW. Several other sites with 6,460 MW potential equally await study and development.

The National Water Resources Policy and the Water Resources Bill, drafted to create a legal framework for water sector governance, have languished in the National Assembly for over a decade. However, the Ministry of Water Resources is optimistic that once passed into law, these documents will attract investment and development partnerships capable of transforming the sector.

Other challenges that have constrained the implementation of the strategic plans include climate change, with its attendant prolonged droughts and extreme weather that worsen water access and quality.

Also, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has identified a $9.2 billion funding gap in Nigeria’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector. Out of the N1.091 trillion required for prioritised projects under the roadmap, only N241.2 billion has been budgeted, reflecting a severe shortfall in investment.

Speaking anonymously, a retired director at the Ministry of Water Resources attributed the water management crisis to rapid urbanisation and inefficient sanitation management.

He, therefore, emphasised the need for collective efforts from the government, international organisations and local communities to close the funding gap and combat the water crisis effectively.

A 2021 WaterAid report titled: “Turn the Tide: The State of the World’s Water” detailed how longer droughts, groundwater salinisation, and landslides increasingly deprive communities of clean water.

The report further warned that by 2030, water scarcity will likely displace between 24 million and 700 million people globally if necessary actions are not taken. UNESCO’s 2024 World Water Development Report equally reinforced this concern and informed that 80 per cent of people suffering from water scarcity reside in rural areas.

Despite these daunting statistics, the Ministry of Water Resources recently claimed significant progress in implementing its water management blueprint.
According to the federal government, the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) and the Sustainable Urban-Rural Water Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) initiatives have yielded tangible results.

It noted that the PEWASH programme alone has completed over 2,190 water supply schemes, providing clean water to more than two million people daily.The Director of Planning and Technical Support Services, Ministry of Water Resources, Adeyinka Adenopo, who highlighted the achievements at last year’s World Water Day celebration, pointed to the expansion of borehole projects and increased water output, and stressed the government’s commitment to progress further.

The SURWASH initiative, backed by the World Bank, focuses on urban and rural water supply, institutional reforms, and sustainability. Thus, the National WASH Action Plan, launched after a State of Emergency was declared in the sector in 2018, has led to the construction of over 6,700 water schemes.

Meanwhile, so far, the Clean Nigeria Campaign, which was launched in 2019 with the aim of eradicating open defecation by 2025, has seen only 140 out of the 774 local councils attaining Open Defecation Free (ODF) status.

Although significant progress could not have been made, the fact that only 140 local councils out of 774 have attained this status remains a far cry. This notwithstanding, the Director of Water Supply at the Ministry, Dr Dumebi Madu, credits the ministry with making some impact.

According to him, sanitation facilities have been upgraded for over half a million individuals in public spaces, institutions, and communities. While acknowledging persistent challenges, including policy and legal bottlenecks, Madu assured that the Ministry was working to address them.

Earlier on, the Minister of Water Resources, Prof. Joseph Utsev, had hinted that the ministry would still nudge the National Assembly to pass the Water Resources Bill, which he believes would enhance integrated water management.

Utsev stressed the need for collaboration between federal, state, and local governments to ensure potable water access. He expressed the importance of inclusive water resource management, particularly for marginalised groups, including women, indigenous communities, and persons with disabilities.

Also, the ministry in partnership with stakeholders recently launched the National Water Quality Conference in Abuja, during which the urgency of safe water management for public health, environmental sustainability and national development was identified.

The Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr. Richard Pheelangwah, who represented the minister, cited the 2021 WASH Report, which indicated that only 67 per cent of Nigerians have access to basic water services, leaving a vast gap in water safety.

Efforts to bridge this gap, he stated, include Nigeria’s Roadmap for Water Quality Management, the establishment of 12 water quality laboratories, and the Community Water Safety Plan, designed to help rural communities prevent contamination.

A water expert, Aba Ngbede, emphasised the interconnectedness of water, sanitation, and hygiene practices, adding that Nigeria’s membership of the United Nations’ treaty known as the Water Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes was a step in the right direction.

According to him, such a move was part of proactive measures towards ensuring sustainable management of transboundary waters and actualising Sustainable Development Goal 6, which aims to ensure availability and sustainable water and sanitation management for all.

In an age where climate change is also a critical environmental challenge confronting the world, Ngbedeemphasised that aligning with SDG 6, which makes room for universal water access, was the way to go.

Not all private sector operators are taken in by the government’s claims of making progress. One of those who remain sceptical of the so-called strides is a development expert, Oforbuike Clifford Nnaji, who described Nigeria’s water crisis as a shade of governance failure.

At last year’s World Water Day, he criticised inefficient policies, which he said chiefly hinder clean water access.

Speaking at last year’s Water Day celebration, he added that an inefficient governance system and attendant consequences resulted in poor implementation of viable water policies.

His words: “Inefficient governance systems and corruption, among several other factors, have made it impossible for policies and efforts to address the challenges of safe water provision in Nigeria to be actualised. Nigerians still drink unwholesome water and rely on all manner of unclean water for their domestic activities. This is a sad commentary on our history, and I think that the time has come for us to address the situation because many Nigerians have fallen victim to this inefficient and ineffective governance system.”

A former Ministry of Water Resources director, AdoyiOchigbo, stressed the importance of understanding and implementing the National Water Resources Master Plan to improve agricultural productivity.

Speaking at a recent workshop in Nasarawa State, Ochigbo, an engineer, attributed Nigeria’s food crisis to ineffective water management, stressing that a lot.

Water experts generally agree that fully implementing strategic initiatives could transform Nigeria’s agricultural sector, boost food production, and improve livelihoods.

One of them, Mr Benson Ajisegiri, in a paper titled “Designing the National Action Plan for Revitalisation of the WASH Sector in Nigeria: Experiences and Lessons,” underscored the need for robust collaboration, stakeholders’ commitment, and adherence to the master plan for sustainable water management.

For Aioga Oglewu and other such communities across Nigeria, access to clean water remains a distant hope. While policies, roadmaps, and initiatives offer potential solutions, their impact will be measured not in reports or statistics but in the daily lives of people such as Eneoja Oga, who continue to endure the hardship of water scarcity.

In further maintaining their position, experts stressed that until these roadmaps translate into tangible improvements, the struggle for water will persist across rural communities with its attendant health and environmental implications.