Nigeria faces challenge of meeting 2015 MDG 7C target

Nigeria is facing the challenge of realising the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7C proposal aimed at reducing, by halve, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.
Some analysts say this is partly because there is a major challenge in translating substantial public investments in water into effective access. This requires more involvement by communities to identify local needs, and better planning to deliver holistic and sustainable solutions.
For instance, the 200 Water Supply and Sanitation Policy that set a target of 60 percent coverage of potable water to all Nigerians by 2003, and 80 percent coverage by 2007, shows a far cry from the MDG target of at least 75 percent coverage by 2015.
In a report by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (OSSAP-MDGs), the progress on the proportion of the population accessing safe water had not been stable.
In 2008, the figure was 55.8 percent; in 2011, the figure improved to 58.5 percent, and in 2012, the figure declined to 57 percent against 77 percent target by 2015. On the other hand, the proportion of population that had access to improved sanitation grew slightly from 31.2 percent in 2008 to 33.7 percent in 2012, against 69.5 percent target by 2015.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) report submits that, the first, and the most pressing issue, over the short term, is the UN Millennium Development Goal of providing improved access to safe and clean water supplies to all affected sub-Saharan African communities (MDG 7C).
The report also further says that the delivery of groundwater through well-placed and appropriately constructed and maintained bore-wells had a vital role to play in the achievement of the millemmium goal.
According to the report, “the amount of access to groundwater for livestock watering and small-scale and commercial irrigation is an important measure of poverty and livelihood potential,” noting that groundwater could make a difference here, as it was still a largely untapped resource for agricultural development in Africa.
Statistics, however, show that in 2012, globally, 748 million people remained without access to an improved source of drinking water and despite progress, 2.5 billion in developing countries still lacked access to improved sanitation facilities.
Progress has, however, been uneven across different regions, between urban and rural areas, and between rich and poor.
Expert information warns that, at the current rate of progress, the 2015 MDG target of halving the proportion of the 1990 population without sanitation will be missed by 8 percent or by half a billion people.
However, according to a joint WHO/UNICEF report on progress on sanitation and drinking water, some 2.4 billion people – one-third of the world’s population – would remain without access to improved sanitation in 2015.