The Nigerian Government says Africa remains off track in realizing the Continent’s Water Vision 2025 and wants urgent measures put in place to address water security and sanitation challenges, particularly in West Africa.
Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, during a one-day meeting in Abuja of West Africa sub-regional Ministers blamed the slow progress to inadequate financing by countries within the sub-region.
The Executive Secretary of African Minister’s Council on Water Rashid Mbaziira wants the sub-regional body to look at areas to be prioritised to achieve sustainable water management.
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The one-day meeting of the West Africa subregional ministerial committee is to identify the regional water priorities which will be integrated with insights from other African regions to develop a post-2025 Africa Water Vision.
Available data from the 2024 Water Sector and Sanitation Monitoring and Reporting show that 800 million people in Africa lack access to safely managed sanitation services, while over 400 million people do noaccess to safely managed drinking water.
(Editor: Oloyede Oworu)
