From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
The Minister of Water Resources, Engr Suleiman Adamu, has commended the Nigerian Government and other stakeholders in the WASH sector for their commitments to increased access to water and sanitation across the country.
The Minister who is presently attending the Sector Ministers Meeting (SMM) organized by Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) alongside his colleagues, the Minister of State for Environment, Mrs Sharon Ikeazor and the Honourable Minister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire in Jakarta Indonesia, made this known on Wednesday 18th May 2022
According to the statement released to reporters in Abuja by the ministry’s deputy director of press, Funmi Imuetinyan, he said 2022 SMM with the theme ‘Building Forward Better for Recovery and Resilience’, is focused on the integration of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) approach in addressing the negative impacts of climate, COVID-19 and economic crises.
Adamu further explained that the progress on the commitments made by the 4 constituencies of the SWA in Nigeria – the Government, the Civil Society, the Private Sector and the Development Partners, as well as the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) at the global level under the Mutual Accountability Mechanism (MAM) process.
He added that the commitments which were tabled in 2019 during the SMM held in Costa Rica, were aligned with national priorities for the WASH sector in Nigeria.
He said, “the three commitments made by the government include the Internalization of the National WASH Action Plan by Sub-national Governments and operationalization of PEWASH Programme by end of 2019; the Operationalization of the Communication Strategy for Open Defecation Free Campaign by 2020; as well as the scale-up of WASH Information Management System and the execution of WASHNORM Annual Survey respectively.”
Speaking on the role of political leadership in addressing the triple crises of health, climate and economy, Engr Adamu highlighted evidence-based advocacy, inter-sectoral coordination and collaboration, as some of the strategies engaged by Nigeria to ensure the high-level prioritization of WASH in the country.
He mentioned some of the initiatives in the sector such as the PEWASH programme, the Presidential launch of the National WASH Action Plan, the Clean Nigeria Campaign, and the signing of Executive Order No.9 and ODF Pledge Card by the President, among others.
The SMM is expected to strengthen the existing Inter-sectoral collaboration among the line ministries towards achieving the SDGs at country and global levels.
