By Asmau Ahmad
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), has called on Nigerian Government to quadruple current investments, if it must meet the Sustainable Development Goals in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector before 2030.
Dr Moma Enang, UNESCO Regional Office Representative, said this at an event to commemorate the 2023 World Water Day with the theme, “Accelerating Change” on Wednesday in Abuja.
Quoting data from the newly released 2023 UN World Water Development Report, Enang said there was an increase in global water demand, which stood at 30 per cent.
According to her, there is need for countries to deliberately make efforts to improve access to water for the teeming population, saying 10 per cent of the global population lived in countries with high or critical water stress.
She said the global Official Development Assistance for water and sanitation stood at $8.7 billion in 2020, mainly from development partners, saying there was need for partnerships and cooperation to promote sustainable access to water.
She said all hands must be on deck to deliver the much-needed change to humanity in the water sector.
“Nearly every water-related intervention involves some kind of cooperation, intra-sectoral, inter-sectoral and extra-sectoral relationships because Between 2.2 and 3.2 billion people lived under water stress for at least 1 month per year.
“75 per cent of the land surface has been significantly altered, with over 85 per cent of natural wetlands area lost, nearly all countries show signs of risks related to water quality due to climate change.”
Mr Fred Kafeero, Food and Agriculture Organisation Representative, said over 700 million people in the world face high and critical water stress and over 90 percent of natural disasters are water related.
He said agriculture currently accounted for 72 per cent of freshwater withdrawals, saying on current trends, an additional 35 per cent in water resources will be needed by 2050, to meet growing demand for food, fibre and feed.
Kafeero, represented by Mr Oluseyi Fabiyi, said FAO was supporting the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, to promote drip irrigation system as a way of sustainable water management in selected irrigation schemes.
Dr Jane Bevan, UNICEF Nigeria Chief of WASH, said that one-third of children do not have access to at least basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services.
Bevan said World Water Day was an opportunity for call to action for all stakeholders to deliberately work to improve water and sanitation in the country.
She said it was estimated that 78 million children in Nigeria suffered from poor water access at the moment, saying at least a third of them lack access to water at home, and two thirds lack access to basic sanitation.
According to her, Nigeria is one of the 10 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa that carry the heaviest burden of diseases caused by inadequate WASH.
