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| The Minister of Water Resources Engr Suleiman H Adamu delivering his opening remarks at the Technical Committee meeting of the Nigerian Standard for Ambient Water Quality at Hawthorn Suites in Abuja on Tuesday 8th February, 2022. |
The Minister, Federal Ministry of Water Resources Engr. Suleiman H. Adamu FNSE, FAEng has stated that Water Quality is one of the components of water resources management currently receiving greater attention of the government compared to what was obtainable in the distant past.
He made this statement at the Opening Workshop of the Technical Committee on Nigerian Standard for Ambient Water Quality and Validation of the Nigerian Roadmap for Water Quality Management at Hawthorn Suites in Abuja on Tuesday 8th February, 2022.
Engr Adamu stressed that the previous poor attention to Water quality management which had impacted eco-system balance, economic growth, public health, education, inequality and climate change has been upturned by the present administration and expressed the Ministry’s determination and commitment to improve water quality and sanitation systems in Nigeria.
He emphasized that the commitment of Water Resources Ministry is reflected through various completed and on-going projects and programmes in the Ministry in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector, especially in the drive to end Open Defecation and improve quality management.
The Minister went down memory lane to note that statistics from the 2021 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (NORM) report showed that about 23.2% of Nigerian population practice open defecation, while 55.5% of the population do not have access to basic sanitation services hence the need to redouble efforts and work together to meet the nation’s WASH needs and make good progress towards achieving the SDG water and sanitation targets.
Engr Adamu informed that his Ministry is aggressively mobilizing the entire country towards ending the practice of open defecation which had placed Nigeria on the global map as the country with the highest number of people indulging in this act from October, 2019.Engr.
Speaking further, the Minister stressed that the valuable views and issues that will be raised during the Technical Committee meetings will be collated and incorporated accordingly to produce acceptable documents to propel service delivery in the Water Sector.
Earlier in his address the Director General , Standard Organisation of Nigeria Mallam Farouk A. Salim who was represented by Mrs Omolara Okunlola, Director Inspectorate Compliance, Department SON, noted that the Technical Committee meeting is a critical stage in standard development process where knowledge, expertise, experiences and scientific information and data are shared by the members to achieve consensus.
The Technical Committee meeting comprise of MDAs, development partners and relevant stakeholders.
