Seven million, five hundred thousand Nigerians, in the seven states captured under the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) programme would benefit from deployment of water infrastructure in their respective communities in these states.
Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, said this in Abuja at the Inauguration of the Federal Steering Committee of the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) in Abuja.
He said the plan to ensure that water supply, sanitation and hygiene reaches all Nigerians by 2030 not necessarily for the sake of meeting the Sustainable Development Goals of 6 but for posterity.
According to him the the Sum of $700m equivalent to N295.5bn when exchanged at the official rate of N415:00.
Suleiman said the N700m would be broken into N640m (N265.600bn) and $60m (24.9bn) to capture various component of the programme that address water supply and hygiene.
His words: It is our ambition to ensure that our assets and services for water supply, sanitation and hygiene are sustainably managed and accessible to all Nigerians.
“We plan to achieve this by 2030, and not just to meet the SDG targets 6.1 & 6.2 for water and sanitation, but for all our sakes and future generations.
“SURWASH is an ambitious $700 million Programme that will provide protection of human health, support economic growth in the short-term, mid – and long-term for a sustainable, inclusive economic recovery that improves livelihoods of the poor and the vulnerable.
The Programme consist of a hybrid approach to financing by utilizing a US$640 million Programme-for-Results (PforR) component, and a US$60 million investment Programme Financing (IPF) Instrument that will be used to facilitate Technical Assistance for States and some selected Federal implementing institutions, to address critical institutional development and identified capacity gaps.
The PforR component of the Programme which Is for infrastructure development and delivery of the actual reform activities would be applied to achieve the following results.
‘Provision of basic drinking water services to 6,100,000 people, out of which 3,007,300 are expected to be women. Provision of access to improved sanitation services to 1,400,000 people, out of which 690,200 are expected to be women.
Be said, Provision of improved water supply, sanitation, and hand washing facilities to 2,000 Schools and healthcare facilities, and the Supporting at least of 500 Communities to achieve and maintain community wide Open Defecation Free Pius (ODF+) status, was part of the funding.
Representative of the World Bank, and Sector Leader, for Sustainable Development, Pier Montovani and said the the financing would be delivered upon verification of the the projects.
His words: “I think everybody is familiar with the principles of the program for results, which is an evolution. It’s a change from the traditional input based type of project financing.
We have been through the innovation in Nigeria’s water sector and for this project, the financing will be available based on the verification of results.
The World Bank and the Government of Nigeria and all the states of Nigeria have by now experience with the fee for our approach in various sectors.
But this is the first time mind you this is the first time it is being implemented in an infrastructure sector relatively complex work.
“So the process here is not like sectors where there are relatively many administrative types of commitment; the results are based on a process of design, construction, operation and verification.
“So it is a challenge and we look forward to overcoming all of the challenges with you,” Montovani stated.
The event climaxed with the unveiling of the SURWASH logo which each of the projects would carry in the course of the implement action of the project.
The event climaxed with the unveiling of the SURWASH logo by the Minister of Water Reaources Suleiman Adamu and his counterpart in the Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen.
The logo would distinct the SURWASH water project from other projects as each of the projects would carry the logo in the course of the implementation.
and then