Abuja, Lagos have no business sinking boreholes ― FG

The federal government on Monday declared that the Abuja, Lagos and other urban and municipal centres in the country have no business sinking boreholes for water supply.

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, stated this in Abuja at the seventh edition of the Ministerial briefing highlighting the administration’s key achievements in the sector.

Speaking on the indiscriminate use of groundwater for irrigation and the government’s desire to check it, he had been asked about the implications of household boreholes sunk because of lack of public source of potable water supply.

The Minister noted that while it is necessary to have boreholes in rural communities where there is no surface water source, places like Lagos, Abuja and others should not depend on boreholes for water supply.

He said the states must do more investments in water supply, especially as the population is growing.

The Minister said while the federal government is not interested in being the organ providing permit for sinking boreholes, it wants to ensure that it falls under the national safety code and guidelines.

Adamu stated: “In every country in the world, Nigeria is the only country where there are no regulations or standards for boreholes. And we want to do that.

“We are not saying you cannot build a borehole in your house. Nobody is going to stop you from having borehole in your house. But we don’t need the boreholes. But what we are going to do is to make sure the municipal waterworks. We cannot do away with boreholes entirely.

“In rural areas where there is no surface water source, you need to provide them with boreholes. For villages and so on. That is okay. But for urban centres, and municipal centres, we have no business having boreholes there. We have no business having boreholes in Abuja and Lagos.

“There is a lot of fresh water in this country. 1,800 cubic meters per capita water supply. So, we are not a water-scarce country. But we are economically a water-scarce country because we are not able to distribute the water equitably.

“So, what we need is to see more investment by states, and not just a one-off investment because water is an organic thing. Population is growing. Every day, people are born. From the moment a baby is born he needs water to drink. So, the investment must outpace population growth.

“What we need to do now is to take our water supply facility to the current population. Without doing that, we will not get there and all these strategies that we are adopting is to make it possible.

“What we want is to be able to know where the boreholes are and we are not saying the federal government is the one to give permits for drilling boreholes. We just want it to fall under a national safety code and guidelines so that hydrological services will have all the data it needs.”

The Minister expressed alarm that over 100,000 boreholes have been drilled in Abuja, saying: “In Abuja, I heard over 100,000 boreholes are being drilled and it’s a huge concern and I hope FCT and states will be able to step up their monitoring so that we get away with these boreholes.”

The Minister announced that 17 water projects have been slated for implementation between now and 2025.

He also said that 13 projects under the ministry are ready for commissioning in the coming weeks and months.

Adamu stated that in providing access to potable water in Nigeria, 6,761 water schemes were developed across urban, small town and rural areas of the country producing 794,334,000 litres/day and serving 32,008,600 Nigerians.

He said out of the 36 inherited ongoing water supply projects, 30 have been completed while others were closed or transferred to state governments.

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Speaking on the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene (PEWASH), he noted that the overall achievement and impact of combined programme implementation by the Federal Government and participating state governments from 2018 – 2021 is the construction, rehabilitation and upgrading 3,292 water supply facilities with total water production capacity of 62,985,100 Litres/day serving a population of 5,262,189 people in the benefitting communities.

He informed that the ministry accounts for the construction, upgrade and rehabilitation of 2,017 water supply facilities while the state governments account for the construction, upgrade and rehabilitation of 1,275 water supply facilities.

On Sanitation, he said the ministry has successfully constructed over 7,200 compartments of Sanitation and Hygiene facilities in public places nationwide including markets, schools, parks, health facilities, IDP host communities, and cholera hot spots and handed over to beneficiary communities, with approved guidelines for caretakers, to manage.

Adamu also spoke of routine water quality monitoring of the nation’s Open Water bodies including Dams, Lakes, Rivers, among others as well as the rehabilitation of existing and procurement of new Water Quality Monitoring Laboratories.

Adamu said to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025, the Federal Executive Council approved the rollout of a National Programme to End Open Defecation in Nigeria by 2025 tagged “Clean Nigeria: Use The Toilet” Campaign.

He stated that over 7,200 Sanitation and Hygiene facilities have been constructed in public places and handed over to beneficiary communities.

On Job creation, the Minister remarked: “In line with Mr President’s directive to actively collaborate with the Private Sector to create a large number of well-paying jobs for Nigerian youths, the Ministry has increased the number of jobs created from 8,882 in 2019 to over 16,648 in 2022.

“The Ministry has also empowered 626,642 persons in 2019 to over 1,227,477 persons in 2022 towards the realization of Mr Presidents’ June 12 promise to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.”