Nigerian government has called for more support from stakeholders to regulate and manage quackery and all forms of unprofessional practices in the water sector.
The government says this will help the country meet the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) by 2030.
Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, made these known at the 33rd Annual Conference and Exhibitions of the Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists (NAH), in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
Mr Adamu said the invaluable contributions of hydrogeologists to the water sector was commendable, adding that promoting capacity building programmes for best practices in the fields of hydrogeology and geo-sciences was crucial.
According to the Minister, professional bodies will end all forms of unprofessional practices in the water sector in order to accelerate the nation’s journey to meeting the SDG 6 by 2030.
“I wish to use this opportunity to place on record the invaluable contributions of the Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists to the Water Sector, while commending your technical advisory role as well as your various capacity building programmes for the promotion of best practices in the fields of hydrogeology and geosciences in the country,” Adamu said.
“No doubt, such commendable initiatives have resulted in the sustainable development and management of the nation’s water resources and I urge you to keep it up,” he added.
Mr Adamu mentioned that prevailing extreme climate events such as flooding and drought were already having serious negative impacts on the Nigeria populace.
According to him “measures can be put in place to mitigate its impact and especially for the Niger and Benue basins, Government is in the process of engaging expert to develop a masterplan for the rivers to control flood, improve food production and navigation, among other benefits based on engineering and nature based solutions.”
He listed such impacts to include drying up of water bodies such as the Lake Chad, depletion of groundwater levels in Borno, Yobe and other states and degradation of aquatic life.
President of the Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologist (NAH), Dr Martin Eduvie, said the overall objective of the association is to promote best practices in the exploration development and management of Nigeria’s water resources and protection of surface water against pollution to guarantee the sustainability of ground water.
Mr Eduvie said inclusion of his members in Federal Government’s efforts to achieve the SDG on water and sanitation by 2030 was important, saying climate change had adversely impacted communities.
“The association had constituted a committee to bring concrete actions towards finding solutions to the myriad of challenges in water resources management.” Eduvie said
He noted that the conference was an opportunity to interact and exchange ideas on managing groundwater resources in line with global best practices”.
The Director General of Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, Mr Clement Nze, said the agency will continue to work to build a robust and sustainable water development system for the country.
Highlight of the event was the formal inauguration of the `Water Resources’ Journal and conferment of honorary fellowship awards to selected guests.
The theme of the conference was, ‘Prospects and Challenges of Sustainable Management of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria.’
