Govt targets potable water for 96m Nigerians by 2007
From Niyi Bello, Akure
BY the year 2007, at least 96 million Nigerians will have access to potable water, the Minister of State for Water Resources, Mr. Bashir Isola Awotorebo, has said.
The target covers 80 per cent of the country's 120 million population.
Awotorebo said this during a courtesy call on the Ondo State Acting Governor, Chief Omolade Oluwateru at the weekend in Akure, the state capital.
He said government's target is to provide potable water in all the state capitals and urban centres by the end of the second-term of President Olusegun Obasanjo's administration.
Awotorebo said: "By the time we are through with the implementation of the various schemes under the presidential initiative on water, all state capitals should be able to have 100 per cent availability of water by 2007 and 80 per cent in the semi-urban areas. We would have also achieved two-third coverage of the rural areas at the same time".
According to him, efforts of the government have started yielding results as about 59 per cent of the population have access to potable water against the 35 per cent in 1999.
He said in order to meet the target, an action-plan on the presidential initiative was mapped out by the Federal Government last year which has been facilitating the realisation of the dream.
The minister, who said he was in Ondo and Ekiti to assess the water situation in the two states and also to inspect the on-going Federal Government project, added that the Obasanjo administration would leave no stone unturned in its efforts to provide potable water for Nigerians.
His words: "Since we know that water is a basic necessity, which if properly harnessed, will solve some of the problems facing the nation, every effort will be made to ensure its adequate provision.
"With availability of good water, water-borne disease will be put at bay and enough food and employment could also be generated through irrigation systems. We are aware of all these and we are working towards meeting our set objectives in this regard".
During the visit, 360 hand-pumps were presented to the Ondo State government by the minister who said the items should be distributed to all the 18 local councils on equal basis.
The hand-pumps, according to him, were donated by the Federal Government to assist the state in its efforts to provide potable water to the residents.
He added that similar gestures were being extended to all the states of the federation where hand-dug wells and bore-holes could be operated while a workable alternative is being planned for the country's riverine terrain.
The acting governor thanked the Federal Government for the gestures but urged the minister to treat Ondo State as a special case in its nationwide plan for water provision.
Oluwateru said: "We have a peculiar problem in the area of water provision in Ondo State. Though our efforts have been paying off, we met only 4.5 per cent of our population with access to potable water.
"If you say it was 35 per cent population accessibility in 1999 in other parts of the country and our own was 4.5 per cent in 2003, you will know that definitely, something is amiss".
