Environment
$700m World Bank Water project: Stakeholders Call for States’ Commitment
Stakeholders have called on states benefitting from the $700 million World Bank-supported Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) Programme to show political commitment for project sustainability.
This was the consensus among stakeholders at a virtual SURWASH public consultation meeting on Monday.
The meeting was organised by the Bread of Life Development Foundation and other stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector.
The World Bank had approved a $700 million SURWASH programme in seven states of the country.
The benefitting states are; Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, and Plateau.
Mr Babatope Babalobi, representative of the foundation, said the five-year project would also support Federal Government’s implementation of the National Action Plan, which sought to change the poor narrative in the Water and Sanitation sector.
According to Babalobi, there is need for the World Bank to strengthen its monitoring teams towards ensuring that they get their desired result in improving access to potable water and sanitation for Nigerians.
He said the need to have strong human capacity institutions in the country was very essential, as they would help to end challenges of project management and implementation.
“We want the World Bank to increase its human capacity presence in the country, lessons learnt from previous interventions showed that the country achieved an unsatisfactory report.
“There is need for a task team leader who will be resident in Nigeria to oversee activities and monitor project implementation,” Babalobi said.
He expressed the need for the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the seven states to take ownership of the project and ensure that programme implementation guidelines were strictly followed.
Babalobi said there was need for the SURWASH programme to build on past interventions in the WASH sector, and foster strong linkages with other external support agencies.
Dr Benson Ajisegiri, Director, Water Supply and Public-Private Partnership, noted that the ministry had urged the seven states to set up independent task teams responsible for achieving SURWASH results.
Ajisegiri highlighted issues of cost recovery, poor water governance, poor capacity, as challenges in effective management of state water utilities.
According to him, interventions from development partners have really gone a long way to help the country improve access to potable water and sanitation.
“The consequences would have been much if World Bank and other development partners’ interventions were not involved, so we are focusing on capacity building and institutional strengthening this time around,” Ajisegiri said.
He said it had been observed that many states had not shown enough commitment to project implementation, saying SURWASH implementation was based on the tenets of project for result.
“We have seen subsequent interventions with no serious political commitment, like the states bringing people directly to do the job without going through procurement.
“Now, states have set up their own Project Implementation Unit, they must now take the ‘driver’s seat’ and build their capacity for implementation,” Ajisegiri said.
According to a ministry official, Mr Abdulhamid Gwaram, the SURWASH programme rests on the theme of ‘Not leaving Anyone Behind’, saying benefiting states’ eligibility is based on readiness criteria.
Gwaram noted that states would go through the international development funds and bank financing, saying no specific allocation would be done until states had shown commitment through investment.
“States must show readiness and timelines to implement programme, expected results, sustainability plans; they must show political commitment too.
“The seven states were selected through a readiness criteria and a transparent process. Out of the $700 million, $640 million will be used for financing projects while $60 million will be used for technical assistance.
“It is performance-driven and there is no reward for non-performing states, they can be replaced if they fail to perform,” he said.
Gwaram added that it was the desire of the ministry to see that public utilities worked for sustainable economic recovery and also respond to COVID-19 pandemic.
NAN reports that SURWASH will provide six million people with basic potable water services and 1.4 million people access to improved sanitation services.
The programme will deliver improved water sanitation and hygiene services to 2,000 schools and health care facilities and assist 500 communities to achieve open defecation free status. (NAN)
Environment
Prolonged Public Holidays Come with Negative Economic Effects on Citizens – Anambra Residents
Anambra residents have slammed the additional day approved by the Federal Government for the Muslim faithful to celebrate the 2024 Eid-Ei-Fitr, saying this will have negative effects on the economy.
The Federal government had early declared April 9 and 10 as Muslim-Ummah for the successful completion of a month’s spiritual rejuvenation.
Reports says that residents of Anambra capital city believe that the additional day which they did not plan for will result in economic hardship to the citizenry.
Most respondents believe that people had planned to resume their economic activities instead of wasting their time staying at home doing nothing..
Former Chairman, Awka Chamber of Commerce, Chief Felly Akosa, described the additional day to the two days approved earlier as “unfair to the economy of the country as people were unprepared for the additional day.
Akosa said that although it is right for the Muslim faithful to celebrate their holiday after a month-long fasting, the process needs to be carefully planned for in place of the additional rest day which could inhibit business activities.
Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene, National Vice President of Igbo Apex Social Cultural body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, said the policy would cause huge economic waste as businesses are put on hold,
He advised that, in future, a proper and well planned programme needs to be in place before declaring a public holiday for any celebration that will be national.
“Our economy and other sectors are not very healthy,” and it would, therefore be appropriate to plan well to avoid declarations that will hamper the citizens’ welfare.
Mazi Christian Beluchukwu, a business man in Awka, described the extension of the Eid-El-Fitr public holiday to Thursday, April 11, as an added hardship for the citizenry.
Beluchukwu said that any public holiday for three days, April 9 to 11, to celebrate any feast in the country is an economic loss to the nation.
He said that it was best to stick to the two-day national public holidays as this gives room for the people to plan their activities very well.
He stated that his wife went to a public hospital on Tuesday and was unattended to because there was no doctor on seat to provide medical attention.
“She resorted to visiting a private hospital which cost extra money which the public hospital is expected to handle at a reasonable cost. (NAN)
The Jos Water Services Corporation (JWSC) has said that the World Bank fund received would be used to boost water supply to Bukuru and environs in Jos South Local Government Area.
Mr Apollos Samchi, the Managing Director of the corporation, said that N1.7 billion would be expended on the rehabilitation of water treatment plant, over head steel tank and laying of pipes to homes of consumers.
Samchi, who disclosed this on Friday in Jos, during a two-day capacity building workshop, said that the projects were expected to be completed in four months.
Reports says that the workshop organised for contractors has at its theme: “Implementation of Environmental and Social Management Plans for Projects in Jos South.
The MD said that the projects would ensure steady provision of potable water to residents in Gyel and Kurgiya in Jos South Local Government Area.
He said the treatment plant when rehabilitated would pump out 5,000 cubic litres of water daily.
The MD further stated that the reticulation exercise would cover residents who weren’t initially connected to public water supply in the area.
Samchi said that the essence of the workshop was to ensure that the contractors were trained to develop adequate measures and controls to minimise and mitigate potential environmental and social risks that could adversely affect the project implementation.
He called on all the contractors handling the projects to ensure that they adhered to the environmental and safety standards and deliver within the specified timeframe.
In his remarks, Mr Jonathan Malann, the Plateau Project Coordinator, Sustainable Urban, Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene programme (SURWASH), also advised contractors to adhere to the environmental and safety standards as provided by the World Bank.
The Federal Government had received $700m financing from the World Bank to ensure that all its people have access to sustainable and safely managed WASH services.
The seven participating states are Plateau, Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Katsina, and Kaduna.(NAN)
The Gombe State Executive Council (SEC) has approved payment of N389 million as compensation for residents that would be affected by the gully erosion control project at Federal College of Education (FCE) Technical and its surrounding communities.
The Commissioner for Finance, Gombe State, Malam Mohammed Magaji, stated this at the end of the SEC meeting on Friday in Gombe.
Magaji said the payment, which would commence immediately, would be for individuals and organisations along the gully erosion site.
He said almost 1000 persons were expected to benefit from the gesture.
According to him, the compensation is part of the requirements of the World Bank, which specifies that such payments be made to property owners.
Magaji said the payment would also be made to ensure seamless resettlement of affected persons.
“The beneficiaries are in hundreds, almost a 1,000 people; there is compensation for houses, and also for business premises.
“There is also stipends for the elderly living around that area so that they are able to have good livelihood,” he said.
The commissioner for Education, Hajiya Aishatu Maigari, also said the SEC approved upgrade of the five mega senior secondary schools in the state to sustain improvement in the education sector.
Maigari said the upgrade would be carried out based on the needs of each of the schools.
She stated that infrastructure in some of the schools were already being upgraded to global standards.
“We have seen construction of toilets, installation of solar-powered light, construction of roads, school clinics, boreholes and many more,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the state government had on Nov. 23 signed a N12 billion contract with Triacta Nigeria Ltd. for a 21-kilometre gully erosion control work in six communities within Gombe metropolis.
The project is under ACRESAL project, a World Bank-assisted project to address the challenges of land degradation and climate change in northern Nigeria. (NAN)
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