Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, has said it will cost about $2.5bn to provide potable water for 75 per cent of Nigerians.
She further explained that despite the declaration by the United Nations Children Fund that the access to water has been globally met, Nigeria is yet to achieve the goal of providing water to all citizens
She explained that though the United Nations Children Fund said that the global access to water had been met, the nation had yet to achieve its target of providing water to all citizens.
She referred to Israel where water is sparingly used and rain water harvested to be used during the dry season
The minister said the Federal Government had begun to address the shrinking River Niger through the award of contract for its dredging.
She also said that $5m has been expended on consultancy services on the Lake Chad which has shrunk by 700 square kilometres in recent times.
The minister stated that the ministry had constructed 1000 boreholes in different parts of the country, adding that about 24 dams had been accessed for hydro-power, irrigation and farming.
She said Nigeria had about 84 million hectares of arable land while 5,000 hectares had been earmarked for cultivation between 2012 and 2015.
Ochekpe said, “One challenge Nigeria has is that we have taken water for granted and we are not thinking of harvesting water during the rainy season. We can harvest water for use in the dry season as is being done by Isreal.”
