Senate charges FG on adequate pipe-borne water supply
…It is a shame that we don’t have pipe-borne water- Sen. Adamu Aliero

By Ranmilowo Ojalumo
The Nigerian upper legislative Chamber, the Senate has expressed serious concern over what it termed decline state of water supply in the country, saying there must be adequate water supply for all Nigerians across the country.

The red chamber has urged the federal government to put measure in place to ensure that there is water for all by embarking on a long-term commitment to find a pathway for better water delivery in Nigeria.
The scarcity of water was one of the issues discussed at the plenary session at the senate on Wednesday and monitor by The Factual through the senate twitter handle.
The water issue was raised by Senator Senator Dino Melaye, citing Orders 42 & 52 and calls the attention of the Senate to the alarming rate of scarcity of water supply in Nigeria.
“The Nigerian water sector is in critical condition. The situation is alarming and calls for immediate intervention”, Melaye said.
While contributing to the debate, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe stated that it is only in Abuja that one can find pipe-borne water, a situation he described as a disgrace to the country.
He said “it is only in Abuja that one can find pipe-borne water, it’s a disgrace to Nigeria. We’ve gone one step forward and 10 steps backward. We should be providing pipe-born water to every household in Nigeria. An investigation should be made by the Committee on water to find out what the funds for these purposes have been used on.”-.
Worried by the development, Senator Adamu Aliero said “it is true that there is a serious decline in water supply in rural areas. Funds were released but have not been utilized. It is a shame that we do not have pipe-borne water. I support that this motion.”
Also contributing to the debate, Senator Emmanuel Bwacha, said “I would like to draw our attention to a recent incident in Abuja which was due to the digging of boreholes. I suggest that this chamber looks into the matter.”
The house therefore directs the committee on water supply to carry out a holistic investigation into the declining state of water in Nigeria. Senate also urged the Federal Government to embark on a long-term commitment to find a pathway for better water delivery in Nigeria;
The Red chamber also urge the Federal Government to investigate closely the implementation gaps in water services, delivery capabilities in the water sector and promoting better integration of the private sector in the water sector.
In his response to the motion, the Senate President Dr. Bukola Saraki said “this is of great concern to us. As a country, it is very embarrassing if our decline has gone down to 7% from 32%. As we all know, as a country, there must be adequate water supply for all our operations.
“Therefore, the committee should take this work with the importance that it deserves and quickly carry out investigations and try to particularly block the leakages in the area of corruption, where projects funded by donor agencies are diverted. We need to get to the bottom of this and find a solution that will improve water supply for our people”, the Senate President said.