Stan Okenwa
24 March 2009
Lagos — THE 2009 World Water Day held last Sunday across the globe has continued to attract reactions from non governmental organisations.
In a statement, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) linked Nigeria's failure to honour international commitments on access to clean and safe drinking water to corruption and "politicization" of water projects by government.
The group particularly warned that without a probe, recovery of illegally diverted monies and prosecution of perpetrators of failed water schemes, Nigeria's quest to attain the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target on access to water and sanitation by 2015 will remain a mirage.
The theme of the 2009 World Water Day, "Sharing water, sharing opportunities" reinforces the MDG's water target of reducing the proportion of people without access to clean water and adequate sanitation by 2015.
ERA/FoEN boss, Nnimmo Bassey, said "It is sad and extremely disturbing that while most nations are making giant strides in guaranteeing water sovereignty, the Nigerian government still treats issues of access to clean and portable drinking water as a privilege and not a right that every Nigerian is entitled to".
"The fact that a recent United Nations report on MDGs did not list Nigeria among countries making reasonable progress on water targets is enough evidence that the billions of dollars that have poured into Nigeria from the World Bank and other donor agencies have only gone into private pockets.
Bassey said that a recent World Bank document on the Second National Urban Water Sector Reform Project in Nigeria indicated that for all the billions obtained by the Federal and state governments over the years, all water projects funded by the bank in the country have failed.
Similarly, in 2008 the Senate Committee on Water Resources unearthed a N24 billion scam involving faceless contractors who allegedly implemented borehole projects across the country between 2004 and 2006 under the Obasanjo administration. Investigations by the committee revealed that the borehole projects were non existent.
He said that "on the occasion of this year's World Water Day celebration, Nigerians demand a comprehensive probe of the water scams and enactment of laws that guarantee access to water as a right. The era of fanfare of commissioning of pipes that generate no single drop of water for human use must stop".
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