The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has revealed that the Federal Government has secured a $700m loan from the World Bank for specific water projects in the country.
The Minister made this known in an interview with journalists on Monday night during the maiden edition of the Rewards and Recognition Awards ceremony organised by the ministry in Abuja.
He said seven states, comprising Imo, Delta, Bauchi, Ekiti, Katsina, Kaduna, and Plateau, were expected to benefit from the first tranche of the loan.
According to him, the duty of the Federal Government in the area of water supply is to provide support to states as most of the problems associated with water supply in the country are the responsibilities of state governments.
“What Nigerians need to understand is that the Federal Government is not responsible for providing water in their taps; that is the responsibility of state governments and that is why we don’t have a federal water board.
“We are just trying hard to support them (states). All the incentives, like the P-WASH (Plan–Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Action Plan, declaration of a state of emergency by the President, and many more are efforts by the Federal Government to push the states to invest more in water.
“The states are primarily responsible for providing water for the people. If they don’t invest, what can we do? We have drawn the policies; we have done so many things.
“We are the first to even put a budget line to support state governments for water supply.
“We have been able to generate from the World Bank $700m. This money is not going to be spent by the Federal Government; it is going to the states for them to improve their water supply situation.
“There is nothing the Federal Government has not done. It is left to the states; Some are doing very well, while some are not doing as much as we wanted,” he said.
