Nigeria has explained that the African Development Bank-assisted Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in the North East is suffering delay because of insurgency and other factors.
The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, gave the explanation to the country’s House of Representatives on Thursday.
When the minister appeared before the House Committee on Aids, Loans and Debt, he said the water, sanitation and hygiene component of the programme was being financed by the federal and state governments on a loan of $150m.
Giving a breakdown of the loan, Adamu said his ministry contributed $5.9m, while Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe and Taraba states contributed $33m, $29m, $38M, $16m and $16m respectively.
His words, “It is worthy to note that each state is directly responsible for the programme implementation, while Federal Ministry of Water Resources carries out oversight and quality assurance.
“The entire programme has the following three main components; Service Delivery, Economy Recovery and Institutional Strengthening.”
According to the minister, the specific objective of the programme is to improve the quality of life by increasing access of the poor and vulnerable to basic social services in water, sanitation, hygiene, health and education, as well as livelihood opportunities, food security and strengthened safety net system in affected states in the North East.
He, however, disclosed that, while implementation units at states and federal level strive hard, they were not able to achieve the expected planned objectives within the scheduled time due to constraints.
The first disbursement of funds was made 18 months after the loan agreement was signed, which led to the delay in procurement activities, he hinted.
Another constraint, according to him, is the lack of understanding of AfDB’s mode of operation at the outset, especially at the states.
Similarly, the minister said the Programme to Rehabilitate and Strengthen the Resilience of Socio-Ecological Systems in the Lake Chad Basin was to alleviate poverty in the area.
“It is a regional five-year programme derived from the Five Year Investment Plan of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, developed after the Roundtable in Bologna in April 4 and 5, 2014.
“The goal of the investment plan is to improve resilience of vulnerable populations, who depend on the natural resources of Lake Chad Basin in Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic and Chad,” he added.
