FG pledges $1m to tackle Africa water, sanitation challenge

DETERMINED to raise its stake in meeting Africa’s sustainable development goal, the federal government, has pledged to contribute $1million for water provision and sanitation in the continent.

Making the pledge at the 10th anniversary of the African Water Facility (AWF) in Abuja, President Mohammadu Buhari said the fund became necessary owing to challenges faced in Africa in the development and management of water resource, saying that the continent’s potential to meet potable water supply, sanitation, irrigation, hydro-power and trans-boundary water management is far from being adequate.

Buhari, represented by the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, while admitting that financing required for the development of water infrastructure has been estimated at $20billion annually between the period of year 2000-2025, stated that out of this amount, $10billion is to be provided by the development partners while the rest would come from local and private sector sources.

“Unfortunately, current estimates suggest that actual flows are around 20percent of the estimated financing requirement, which is grossly inadequate and requires major scaling up to safeguard the future of the continent”, lamented Buhari, urging stakeholders in the public and private sectors, development partners and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to play their roles efficiently.

He also enjoined African governments to accord increased priority to the water sector in their budgetary allocations. He said “given the constraints on public and official Development Assistance (ODA) financing, we must deploy our collective efforts to develop and encourage innovative ways of financing water sector investments to meet the enormous investment needs in the sector.

Buhari also stressed the need to continue to find ways of tapping into the funds available within the local, financial and international capital markets and channeling it to investments in the water security infrastructure.