The Federal Government says 41 per cent of the country’s public water supply have been contaminated with faeces, promising to ensure purification of water bodies in Nigeria.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev, said this at the launch of the Nigerian Roadmap for Water Quality Management and Guidelines for Rural Drinking Water Quality Monitoring Surveillance in Abuja today.
Utsev said the roadmap was an opportunity to change the poor narrative of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) indices in the country, stating that 67 per cent of population have access to basic water supply services, while only 13 per cent have access to safely managed drinking water services.
According to him, only 28 out of the 36 states have urban water supply utilities or state water agencies with 16 states having fully functional urban utilities, while 12 were partially functional.
Utsev, who was represented by the Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation in the ministry, Elizabeth Ugoh, said all states had the responsibility to provide potable water for their population.
