The Nigerian Institute of Water Engineers (NIWE) has disclosed that about 179 million Nigerians do not have access to safely managed drinking water services.Making the revelation at the weekend, the body also stated that about 67 percent of Nigerian population does not have access to basic water supply.National Chairman of NIWE, Engr. (Dr.) Adeyinka Sobowale, disclosed this at a press conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State, as part of activities marking this year’s World Water Day, with the theme, ‘Water for Peace “.According to Mr Sobowale, about two-third of the country’s population use drinking water supplies contaminated by thermotolerant coliform at the point of collection.Lamenting that about 79 percent waterworks in Nigeria were either non-functional or partially functional or completely moribund, the NIWE President noted that the research on WASH service in the country showed that Nigeria remains far from achieving the SDG 6 targets.He called on state governments in the country, to grant full autonomy to State water supply agencies in order to attract investors to the sector.

He stressed that this will require adequate
legislati🌃on that will remove unnecessary interference in their operation and management.

“There is need to develop of Water Resources/Water Supply Master Plan for each of the 36 States of the Federation with a well-defined Action Plan for implementation”.“It has become imperative for all States to establish water regulatory agencies to adequately regulate the activities of service providers in their domain. Furthermore, groundwater regulatory frameworks for the entire country should be developed,” he advised.Vanguard