The Federal Government has identified population growth as one of the factors hindering the development and management of Nigeria’s water resources.
The Minister of Water Resources and Rural Development, Engr Sulieman Adamu said this during the sensitization workshop on the National Water Resources Master Plan 2013 and the UN Water Convention for the parties stakeholders from the North-Central geopolitical area, including Taraba, held yesterday in Abuja.
The National Water Resources Master Plan 2013 was developed by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR) in collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 1995.
Adamu said the plan is the first integrated development strategy to improve the country’s water resources, financial and economic investment options to achieve accelerated growth, integrated water resources management, production agriculture and the food security of citizens.
However, the Minister said that its implementation was very slow due to lack of political will, weak implementation structure, poor justification of budgetary provisions and appropriations leading to weak implementation. identified projects.
He said: “A number of other problems that continue to hamper the development and management of the country’s water resources are: increasing water demand due to population growth, uncoordinated development of water resources between the three levels of government, development partners and end users, among others. .”
In the meantime, he said a review of the plan had been carried out with the support of the Japanese government, which had resulted in the development of a more integrated and sustainable approach to the growth and management of the country’s water resources. , which was approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on July 3, 2014.
Adamu said the workshop was therefore an opportunity to assess the level of implementation of the national water resources master plan at all levels of governance in preparation for the review of the proposed document to be held during the 3rd quarter. of this year.
In her welcoming remarks, FMWR Permanent Secretary, Ms. strategically the water sector for sustainable national development.