Why water shortage persists in Nigeria – Coalition

Ahead of the World Water Day 2025 commemoration, a coalition of water justice groups have blamed water scarcity in Nigeria on poor funding.

The coalition, in a report it made available to the media on Thursdays, urged the Nigerian government to address poor funding of water utilities across the federation.

The report titled “Dry Taps: A Damning Verdict on the State of Water Utilities in Nigeria”, is a summary of the status of the waterworks in Enugu, Lagos, Oyo, Kogi, Edo and Kano States.

The fact finding visits were conducted by seven organisations – New Life Community Care Initiative (NELCCI), the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Service Employees (AUPCTRE), Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI), Citizens Free Service Forum (CFSF), the Ecumenical Water Network Africa (EWN-A), Environmental Defenders Network (EDEN) and Socio-Economic Research and Development Centre (SERDEC).

It provides an insight into the seeming intractable water crisis that has enveloped all the states of the federation, with particular focus on the reasons behind the situation.

NELCCI Executive Director, Florence Ifeanyi-Aneke explained that the report is intended to wake the states up to their responsibility in ensuring citizens access and enjoy clean and affordable water.

“What we have found is very disturbing and must not be allowed to continue if we say we are a serious nation”, she stated.

Executive Director of RDI, Philip Jakpor said: “Now we can lay the blame for the parlous state of water in Nigeria exactly where it belongs.

“The governments at state and the federal level have consistently neglected their responsibility of sustainable funding of water to pave way for privatisation of the utilities”.

In the public presentation of the report, AUPCTRE General Secretary, Comrade Sikiru Waheed explained that “though the scope of the research is limited only to six out of Nigeria’s 36 states, it deliberately captures the situation in at lease one state per geographical zone, making it a sneak peek into the overall picture of access to water in the entire federation.

“The report covers Lagos and Oyo in the Southwest, Enugu in the Southeast, Edo State in the Niger Delta, Kano in the Northwest, as well as Kogi in North Central Nigeria.

“Due to manpower and resource challenges, the research focused on the water situation in the cities in the conviction that it is a forgone conclusion that the rural communities where 70 percent of Nigeria’s population are found rely only on streams, rivers and in a few cases private water vendors and boreholes to meet their domestic water needs.

“In Enugu, the report captured the fact that while the previous administration voted millions of naira on expanding the network mains, there is almost nothing to show for the sums expended.”

The coalition noted, however, that there is evidence that the current administration is building new pipelines to connect residents in the city, adding that until that plan is concluded, many still rely on boreholes and private water vendors, exposing them to vulnerability of huge costs and illnesses associated with poor water quality.

Why water shortage persists in Nigeria – Coalition