By Aliyu DANLADI
The Network of Civil Societies on Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN), a non-governmental organisation, on Friday expressed worry over the non-payment of counterpart funds for water, sanitation projects across the country.
The National Coordinator of NEWSAN, Mr Benson Attah, in Abuja that there was the need for the government to prioritise provision of potable water and sanitation for the people.
He said that many states had entered into agreements with development partners on how to boost the people’s access to water and sanitation, adding, however, that some states had failed to live up to their commitments.
Attah said that delays in the payment of counterpart funds had threatened the survival and continuity of some of the water and sanitation projects, adding that the state governments should give priority to the funding of the projects so as to boost the country’s development.
“We have the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) Programme in Benue and Cross River states but the problem of non-payment of counterpart funds is still a thorny issue.
“Although the Benue Government paid N50 million, the Cross River Government failed to pay any amount whatsoever.
“There are some other programmes of development partners being executed across in the country, with little or no contributions from state governments. Nigeria cannot continue like this, we must begin to take ownership of these projects,’’ he said.
Attah called on all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to make specific budgets for the provision of water and toilet facilities, adding that there was the need for sustained partnerships to make the goal a reality.
He said that that NEWSAN had noticed a lot of shortcomings in the WASH programme implementation processes, adding that the development might hinder the country’s efforts to achieve the water and sanitation targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
He said that although the Federal Ministry of Water Resources had been working toward the attainment of these targets, the development partners had been more active in this regard.
He said that this should not to be so, as Nigeria ought to take full ownership of its development projects.
He stressed the need to increase the resources allocated to water and sanitation programmes in the national budget, saying that in 2017, there was no budget for sanitation and this had a negative impact on Nigerians.
Besides, Attah called for the introduction of mechanisms to monitor the execution of the projects of development partners, saying that it had been reported that some development partners, rather than working through civil societies, carried out the projects themselves.
He noted that the resources meant for programme implementation were consequently used for the partners’ logistics and accommodation, among others, adding that the costs would have been reduced if the civil societies were involved.
He stressed that poor public access to water and sanitation had invariably affected the development of children, education, livelihoods and girl-child education, among others.
He, therefore, underscored the need to make pragmatic efforts to prioritise water and sanitation projects across the country.
