By Haruna Gimba
The Federal Government says it has selected Kano and Ogun States to begin the pilot implementation of Partnership for Expanded Water and Sanitation (PEWASH) programme for universal access to potable drinking water and sanitation.
The Minister of Water Resource, Suleiman Adamu who stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, said the programme targets stakeholders’ collaboration to invest in provision of water and sanitation.
He said that the collaboration became necessary for the rural areas to also benefits from it.
Adamu added that the Federal Government inaugurated the implementation of the programme in a bid to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Six and to keep on with the present administration’s development policy.
“This new approach is intended to galvanise all stakeholders, including states and local government, communities, development partners and the organised private sector to invest more in the provision of water supply and sanitation particularly in the rural areas.
“I am happy to report that the implementation of the programme has commended and so far, 22 states have endorsed the PEWASH Protocol. The first two states that promptly responded are Kano and Ogun and they have begun processes for pilot implementation,” he said.
The minister explained that the PEWASH is a 15-year programme divided into three phases.
He said that the first phase would cover a period 2016 to 2018, which is the preparation period devoted to sustained advocacy, mobilisation and project takeoff.
The minister said that the second phase would span 2019 to 2025 with substantial increase in project delivery, while phase three would last from 2026 to 2030, which would consolidate the programme implementation.
