The Federal Government plans to promote Public Private Partnership as an effective approach to increasing investment in the water resources sector, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has said.
Adamu stated that additional strategies that had been adopted to enhance the sector and ensure efficient use of current and future investments included the adoption of renewable energy, such as solar, to power water supply and irrigation facilities, as well as the adoption of drip irrigation to enhance water conservation and efficient irrigation practices.
The minister spoke at the investiture of the 10th President of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Prof Fola Lasisi, in Lagos, where he was represented by the Director-General, National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna, Prof Emmanuel Adanu.
The minister noted that the International Water Management Institute had predicted that Nigeria might become water-stressed between the 2025 and 2050, and that water availability would severely constrain socio-economic development and environmental protection, as it would reduce to less than 1,000 cubic metre per capita, if the current population growth persisted.
Adamu said Nigeria was not able to meet the Millennium Development Goals target on access to water supply, particularly with the decline in access in the rural areas.
According to the minister, it has become necessary that concerted efforts must be put in place to improve the trend towards achieving 100 per cent access to water supply by 2030, a time when the population is estimated to grow to 257 million, in accordance with the newly adopted United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
(Punch)
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