Nigeria has secured a $124.2 million loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) for various water projects across the nation.
Part of the AfDB loan includes the ‘African Growing Together Fund (AGTF)’, which is $20 million, the Nigerian water projects, which were outlined as Urban Water Sector Reform, Akure Water Supply and Sanitation Project, are reportedly in line with the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (TYS) and its High 5s priority areas, the Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Policy. The total commitment to these projects is $4.8 billion and it includes water and sanitation projects worth $606 million.
What you need to know: Part of the project involves “hard” water, sanitation and environmental protection infrastructure with “soft” analytical and institutional reform support. The project in Nigeria is expected to cost $222.69 million and last for the next five years.
“The project is set to address bottlenecks in critical water supply services to households in the densely populated project area.
“It would provide residents of Akure city (Ondo State) and its environs, access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The project will strengthen the Federal Government’s capacity to facilitate urban Water Supply and Sanitation reforms,” AfDB said in a statement reported by Vanguard.
Beneficiaries of the projects: The Senior Director at the Bank’s Regional Office in Nigeria, Ebrima Faal, said 1.3 million residents in Akure and its environs would benefit largely from the water and sanitation projects. Faal said schools, hospitals and markets would also be provided sanitation infrastructure.
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“The project will particularly contribute to improving the living conditions of the communities in the project area.
“Involving these communities in public awareness and marketing activities, will increase the project’s ownership and ensure they pay for the water supply and sanitation services. The loan will also help to install sanitation infrastructure for schools, hospitals, markets.
“On completion, the project will benefit the 1.3 million residents of Akure City and vicinities. At the federal level, the project’s Urban Water Reform component will establish a water and sanitation investment program that would contribute to scaling up of the National WASH Action plan 2018-2030.”