FG To Reduce Funding For Water Projects In States

The Federal government has announced that it will no longer provide complete funding for state urban water supply projects.

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Hussein Adamu disclosed this during a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

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According to him, some state governors have deliberately refused to carry out sustainable projects in states, due to the support they receive from the Federal government.

“The federal government is no longer doing 100 percent water supply projects in state.

“As part of our plan to change focus and make state more responsible for provision of water supply and for us to be able to finish the projects, we had to enter MoU with states, 50-50 relationship.

“Some state governments have folded their hands and waiting for the federal government to come and do what they are supposed to do. We cannot accept that kind of situation anymore,” he said.

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According to him, provision of potable water supply for Nigerians, is a complementary shared constitutional responsibility of the three tiers of government.

The Minister also stated that over the years, lack of coordination among the three tiers of government, inadequate funding has hindered the achievement of the federal government in achieving the sustainable development goals.

Speaking on the projects carried out since 2016, the Minister said that his administration inherited about 116 abandoned and ongoing projects.

According to him, priority infrastructural projects of the ministry include development of dams, irrigation, water supply, sanitation and river basin development.

He said, “Not much is being heard about water infrastructure, most of our major infrastructure projects has to do with irrigation and dams and they are mostly in the bush.

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“When we came into office, we inherited about 116 abandoned and ongoing projects.

“So, we have not been in the habits of starting new projects although we are coming to that in due course but we inherited over 116 projects.

“38 in irrigation and drainage projects and 37 dam projects and water supply projects.

“We have so far developed 96,000 hectares, out of the 3.14 million hectares of the National irrigation potential as at 2021.

“We also have plans to develop a total of 500,000 Ha by 2030.”

He also noted that 106 water supply projects were completed from 2016 to 2021, with 458 water supply projects for IDPs under the special water supply program.

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