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Over 96 Million Nigerians Don’t Have Access To Hygienic Water, Says Minister Of Water Resources

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Over 96 million people in the country drink unhygienic water, the Minister of Water Resources, Sarah Ochekpe, has said.

Ochekpe said despite the nation’s water potential of about 374 billion cubic metres, the affected population accounts for about 60 per cent of the entire population of the country.

The Minister disclosed this during the commemoration of the World Water Day at the weekend in Abuja.

She said the United Nations (UN) had partnered with Ministers of Water Resources from member  states, among other relevant stakeholders to collectively link water and energy in order to promote sustainable practices.

“In Nigeria, statistics have shown that only 40 per cent of the people have access to electricity, 60 per cent of the population have access to safe drinking water while access to sanitation is put at 41 per cent. Improving water and energy efficiency is imperative as are coordinated, coherent and concerted policies,” she urged.

However, the Water Aid Nigeria country representative , Dr Michael Ojo, had earlier placed the data to about 39% of Nigeria’s population who still lack access to good water.

Speaking on the theme; Water and Energy, he said about 75 percent of all industrially converted water is used for energy and hydro-power purposes.

He noted that sustainable development cannot be achieved without first addressing issues with access to water, sanitation and energy.

“We work in solidarity with the millions of people across the world who don’t have access to water and as part of the celebrations of our world water day, world water day was on the 22nd of March but we are having our world water sanitation today in solidarity.

“It is also a day of action because in spite of the target being met across the world, we still have seven hundred and eighty three million people all over the world who don’t have access to water and for us in Nigeria it is even more important because nearly 10% of that number (63 million) in Nigeria don’t have access to water.

“There is a very strong link between energy and water and it’s not just in hydro-power generation. In fact 75 percent of all industrially abstracted water is actually for energy and so you use energy and hydro-power in every kind of power generation but energy is also important to water because about roughly 10 percent of energy that is used, is used in the abstraction, treatment and distribution of water,” he stated.

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