As Nigeria embarks on an arduous journey to eradicate open defecation by 2025, a formidable foe stands in its way: the dire scarcity of clean, potable water. Despite international efforts and local initiatives, millions of homes in the country continue to grapple with the absence of this fundamental resource, plunging them into a cycle of unhygienic practices and perpetuating a vicious cycle of disease and struggle. This report by Kunle Akinrinade, Precious Igbonwelundu, Chinyere Okoroafor, Damola Kola-Dare, Jide Babalola, Justina Asishana, Joel Duku and Mike Odiegwu unveils the harsh reality faced by communities across states, shedding light on a crisis that demands not only urgent attention but sustainable solutions
In the heart of ever-bustling cities and remote towns across Nigeria, a silent crisis flows through the lives of millions – the absence of public water. In the shadows of skyscrapers and the humble abodes of rural families, the lack of access to clean, potable water has become a daily battle for survival, a story boldly etched on the faces of mothers, the dreams of children, and the resilience of communities that seemed to have been abandoned to their fate.
Every day, Aisha Suleiman, a young mother living on the outskirts of Lagos, one of Africa’s most populous cities, begins her day not with the chatter of her children or the aroma of breakfast but with a daunting task – finding water. With empty buckets in hand, she joins the ranks of millions of Nigerian women and children who walk for miles, searching for the precious liquid that sustains life. Aisha’s children, like many others across Nigeria, have mastered the art of rationing water, learning early on that every drop is invaluable.
Venture further into the rural heartlands, where traditional life intertwines with nature. Here, for every household, the joy of a successful day is often marred by the anxiety of uncertain water supply the next morning. Daily, families rely on nearby rivers and ponds, sources usually tainted by pollution and disease. Women balance pots and jerry cans on their heads, walking precarious paths, all in the pursuit of what should be a basic human right – clean water. In the absence of safe drinking water, diseases like cholera and dysentery lurk, preying especially on the vulnerable, the young, and the elderly. The lack of public water not only affects daily life but also hampers progress. Children miss school, families struggle to maintain basic hygiene, and the dream of a healthier, prosperous nation remains elusive.
The story of Nigeria’s crippling water scarcity is not just about pipes running dry or wells slowly emptying; it’s a human story that verges on a fundamental right. Every day, as the sun sets on another day, millions across Nigeria hope eagerly for a tomorrow where the gurgle of clean water will drown out the echoes of their daily struggles, marking the beginning of a new chapter in their lives.
Thirsting for change: The quiet crisis of Nigeria’s water scarcity
Makoko, nestled in the Yaba area of Lagos State, presents a puzzling scenario — a community enveloped by water but plagued by an acute shortage of clean, potable water. Despite being bordered by the vast Atlantic Ocean near the Adekunle/Third Mainland Bridge, residents grapple with a perpetual quest for water for drinking and sanitation. Access to affordable and clean water remains a distant dream for the majority here. Makoko’s inhabitants face daunting choices — diving into the unsanitary canal, relying on sporadic rainfall, or pleading with neighbours for water to bathe and clean up after using makeshift toilets along the Lagoon.
In this community bereft of a functional public water facility, those fortunate enough to own boreholes sell water at exorbitant prices. A mere 10-litre keg of water fetches upwards of N50 at the Makoko waterfront, amplifying the desperation of over 10,000 residents. Chaos reigns in the morning hours, with community members paddling canoes across the Lagoon, queuing up to buy water through extended pipes or hoses. Regrettably, the government’s three public boreholes lie dormant, their locations now overtaken by residential buildings. A youth leader, Frederick Mitun Olu, lamented the situation, explaining how public boreholes had been replaced by houses, leaving only seven privately owned boreholes with 14 channels to serve the entire Makoko waterfront community. “The major business around here is fish business. The men do the fishing while the women smoke and sell them. But because things are hard, business is not moving again and so, people do not have extra money to spend on water, ’’he added.
Residents of Ago Palace Way Okota in the Oshodi/Isolo Local Government Area of the state share the same plight with their Makoko counterparts. The water from most of the boreholes in this elite community is brownish with a rusty and oily substance. In most of the houses visited on Olatunji Idowu and Chief Anyanwu Streets, residents lamented how the water was leaving permanent stains on their kitchen wares, bathroom equipment, and walls. While many speculated that the cause of the smelly water was due to the high volume of iron in the soil around Ago; others are of the opinion that there was a possibility petroleum products were leaking from the system 2B pipelines and had contaminated the water. The water problem has opened a booming business for some vendors who supply 10 kegs of 25-litre water at N2,000, a quantity barely enough to meet the daily water needs of a family of four. In suburbs like Ajegunle, Ojo, Abule Egba, Iba, Ayobo, Isolo, Ishasi, Badagry, and FESTAC, among others, private boreholes are installed at many homes. ‘There is no government intervention on access to water in Ayobo, especially in places like Alaja, Olorunsola and Ishefun. We, residents of Ayobo, dig wells and construct boreholes in our homes,’’ said Wale Oni, a resident.
On Olayinka Street located in Ajegunle, Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos, majority of buildings on the street don’t have boreholes, except a few with wells which are not suitable for drinking and cooking. As gathered, some of the landlords have long closed up their wells because they were contaminated with human wastes as a result of their closeness to sewage chambers.
Thirty-five-year-old resident identified simply as Excel said: “To get water in this area is war. We have been buying water for a long time. And many of the wells around are not good. The one in our compound has been closed because it was contaminated. I guess you must have seen two water selling points in the neighbourhood as you approached here. We buy a gallon of 25 litres of drinking water at N250.”
Waheed Ojo, an elderly man who had been a resident of Lekki for more than 30 years, said: “This area was sand-filled, hence, the water is not drinkable. When there is excessive rain, everywhere is waterlogged. I have stayed here in Lekki for more than 30 years. Either well or borehole, none is drinkable. The water here is largely undrinkable, even the well water here. People buy plastic table water or sachet water (pure water) at times. It is expensive living here. The well water can only be used to wash clothes.’’
Same story from other parts of the country
Lagos is not the only state experiencing a water crisis. The story is not different in Abuja. For example, on August 17, 2023, Mrs. Estella Adamu (not real name), a pensioner, in the Wuse Zone 6 area of the Federal Capital City, threatened to report one of her tenants, Chukwudi, to the police for habitually excreting on the floor of an uncompleted wing of her bungalow, just because he won’t join other tenants in maintaining a roster for cleaning a shared toilet due to lack of water in the building. Coincidentally, nearby was Mr. Adi Olowe (not real name), an employee of a public insurance agency, who was just returning from an uncompleted building where he went to defecate. He disclosed that the multi-storey building housing about four hundred employees of the insurance agency had not had water for days.
Like Lagos and Abuja, access to potable water across Niger State is still very low even though the State is blessed with four major dams which help generate power for Nigeria and neighbouring countries, it does not boast a steady supply of potable water. According to World Vision, 54% of people in Niger lack access to clean portable water. Around Minna metropolis, the sale of water has skyrocketed, especially from the water barrow pushers; a truck sold for N250 to N350 in December now sells for N500 to N700.
Hajara Umar, 35, who resides in the Maikunkele community in Bosso Local Government Area, said that getting water these days in her community has been hellish as the wells are dried and with no electricity, most of the boreholes where they buy water are not able to pump water for sale. “Sometimes to see a place where they sell water is hectic, even the Mai ruwa (water vendor) are not easily accessible. It is hectic to get water to clean up, to wash, to cook and even to drink.”
In the Minna neighbourhoods like Tunga, Chachanga, Mobil, 123 Quarters, Shango, and some parts of Kpakungun are reticulated to enable them to get access to the public water supply but the residents do not get it as regularly as they need to get it. Husseina Umar, a resident of the Nkangbe community said that on weekdays she buys water worth N250 to N300 which is the amount a truck of water is sold from the water vendor which would be used for bathing, cooking, and minor washing while during the weekend, she buys two trucks daily to enable her wash clothes and does other house chores which would need the use of water.
Like their counterparts in Makoko, Lagos, many residents of Rivers, a state surrounded by various water bodies expressed dismay about their lack of access to public water. Sampson Sunday, a resident of Diobu, could still recall that public taps were installed in each compound and residents enjoyed potable water from the State Water Board between 1993 and 1996. “I remember vividly that we used to enjoy free water supply from the state water board, as we used to call it in Diobu, Port Harcourt between 1993 and1996. The pipe-borne water used to flow twice a day, in the morning around 8 am to 9 am and in the evening around 4 pm to 5 pm every day. “But around 1995 to 1996, the water started having issues, sometimes when the water rushed it would be dirty and smelly, and because of this, we started avoiding the water. Most times, when the water comes we would observe it first to see if it was clean and if it was not clean we would not fetch it,” he said.
Non-functional water projects worsen situation
Annually, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 3.4 million people die as a result of water-related diseases. This, the report stated, makes water-related diseases the leading cause of disease and death around the world. In Nigeria, over 26.5 million children are said to be extremely vulnerable to water-related diseases and antimicrobial resistance. At the premises of Nawair-Ud- Deen Primary School 11, Ayetoro, 35, Arumoh Street, Ayetoro, Ajegunle, Lagos, an abandoned borehole project has become relic of history. The project funded by the World Bank, according to residents, only survived its inauguration for a few weeks before it stopped pumping out water in the school.
“It is over two years since it packed up. It was built in 2008. The community sought the support of the local government for assistance in putting it back but nothing came out of it. We buy water from private individuals who have boreholes in their houses. Even in the mosque here, we buy water too. We buy a bucket of water for N50, others for N100 and above depending on the size.’’
A similar multimillion-naira water project in the Ishahi area of Ojo Local Government has since been abandoned. Thousands of iron pipes at the back of the office of Lagos State Water Corporation (LWC) in Ishashi, according to a community leader, Prince Olawale, have been there for over 40 years. He explained that the site of the abandoned pipes has become a refuse dump having been dumped there since between 1972 and 1975 by the World Bank. “So that was the information we got from our father that the pipe has been here since that time because of the water corporation they want to put in place at that time. So, the pipe was to be installed and used to send water from here to other places. This water facility serves this area and Festac and some other parts of Lagos,” Olawale said.
On October 2022, the LWC said water pipes valued at over N1 billion at the current market were carted away by suspected thieves from the Ishasi Waterworks unit of the corporation. The LWC Public Affairs Assistant Director, Anifowoshe Rasaq who confirmed the looting of the facility in a statement expressed concerns over the development. According to him, the World Bank and State Government-funded Water Pipes of different sizes were being carted away by unknown persons. He said that all efforts to identify and arrest the culprits have proved abortive. He said: “Twelve loaded trucks of water pipes ranging from 2000mm, 1500mm, 900mm, 600mm, 500mm, 450mm to 400mm diameters and six heavy-duty cranes hiab vehicle left the 4Million Gallons per Day (MGD), Ishasi Waterworks Pipes yard and carted away pipes meant for the distribution or supplying of water to the residents of Ishasi and its environs, without any approval or documents to do so.”
In Abuja, the Lower Usuma Dam Water Treatment Plant (LUDWTP) built by the Babangida administration in 1990 had its second and third expansion phases between 2011 and 2013 at a cost of $99m with expectations that water from the Gurara Water Transfer Project estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars when it started in 2001 would transfer water from the Gurara River in Niger state to provide a combined 720 million litres of clean drinking water per day to Abuja and its neighbouring areas. The dream is still in the pipeline.
For the past five years, over N4,051,833,413 have been released to the Niger State Ministry of Water Resources and its parastatals across the state between 2019 and May 2023, over . Still, several communities and areas across the state cannot access portable water supply. Information obtained by our correspondent showed that several of the projects said to have been executed by the ministry within the three years had no direct relation to the provision of portable water for the residents of the state nor did it have any plan to reticulate areas that are not connected to the water pipe of the water board.
Some of the projects include control and repairs of damaged spillway canal of Bosso Sam, engagement of project management Engineering Consultant for the vetting and preparation of contract documents for supply and installation of a 9,000m³/day new package water treatment plant at Kontagora, retainership/annual maintenance contract for 1 unit of 2000 KVA, 3 units of 1000KVA and 1 unit of 320KVA Cumins Generator set at Chachanga, Kontagora, Bida and Disten Kura water works. Other projects include procurement of limited offices and procurement of office equipment for the sake of small town water supply and sanitation agency, engagement of a consultant to head the water sector regulatory department, addendum of work at Chachanga, Bida, Kontagora and Dawaki booster station
A look at the budget under the period under review showed that the ministry was supposed to construct 114 hand pump boreholes across the state, construct 500 household latrines across the zones, and reconnect some areas that have been cut off to the pipes of the water board. The budget analysis also revealed that over N9,965,000 was budgeted to be paid for the engagement of an advisory consultant in 2022. Efforts made by our correspondent to get the reaction of the state Ministry of Water Resources and its parastatals were not successful. The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Akilu Musa, who initially accepted an interview appointment later declined to speak on the matter. He said that he would not offer any response until the resumption of the new Commissioner in charge of the ministry.
The acting Managing Director of the Niger State Water and Sewage Corporation (NIWASEC), Engineer Gimba Yisa, and the General Manager, of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RIWATSAN), Rahila Iliya both claimed not to be available after several attempts made by our correspondent to get their official reaction.
How water problem encourages open defecation
Open defecation is the act of passing excreta in open or public spaces instead of in fixed receptacles or toilets. It is a common practice in rural and urban areas whereby people indiscriminately defecate rivers, motor parks, bushes, and on roads, among others. It is estimated that over 47 million Nigerians lack access to toilet facilities and engage in open defection across the country. Worried by the development, former President Muhammadu Buhari, in 2019, signed Executive Order 009 to the menace while the Federal Government through the Ministry of Water Resources also a campaign- ‘Nigeria Open-Defecation-Free By 2025: A National Road Map’ that set a target for ending the practice by 2025.
However, in spite of the initiative to curb the menace, the lack of water supply has been the major hindrance to achieving the goal. According to the 2021 WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNORM), 23% of all publicly owned water facilities are currently non-functional. The report pointed out that about 87 % (179 million) of Nigerians do not have access to safely managed drinking water services while the northern part of the country lacks adequate supply services.
The report read in part: ‘’Northeast has the lowest access at two per cent, while the Southwest has the highest at 29 per cent. Access for the rural population is at six per cent, four times lower than access levels for the urban population at 27 per cent. There are also notable differences in access between the richest and poorest households. The poorest households with only two per cent access are 17 times less likely to have access to safely managed water services
The report also explained that millions of Nigerians still engage in open defecation across the country.
“Access to sanitation indicators across the country shows a slight improvement, though open defecation is still prevalent. Evidently, 23 per cent of the population (48 million people) still defecate in the open. People in rural areas (31 per cent) are four times more likely to practice open defecation than those living in urban areas (eigjht per cent). The poorest households (48 per cent) are 48 times more likely to practice open defecation than the richest households (one per cent). Forty-six (46) per cent of the population were found to have access to basic water supply services.”
Across the globe, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 6 aims to ‘ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’ and includes targets for universal access to safe drinking water (6.1), and sanitation and hygiene (6.2). Yet a well-articulated campaign for safe water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH Campaign) is far from making sufficient progress across Nigeria where government and other stakeholders have chosen 2025 as their target.
Furthermore, the Sector-wide Sustainability Checks (SwSC) for WASH in schools which measures the sustainability level of WASH facilities in the schools where they are provided offers little cause for cheers findings estimate the National sustainability index for WASH in Schools to be 46 per cent. It is the sum of the sustainability index for the components of water supply, sanitation, and hygiene services and equity of access in schools across the country. At the regional level, the Southwest has the highest index of 53 per cent, followed by Northcentral and Northeast at 45 per cent and 44 per cent respectively, while the South-East has the lowest index at 34 per cent. Data from states shows that the FCT has the highest index at 67 per cent, followed by Lagos and Bauchi at 66 and 54 per cent respectively. The states with the lowest index are Kwara-25 per cent, Imo-25 per cent, and Enugu 26 per cent.
The World Bank has been assisting Nigeria in ensuring that its citizens get access to clean portable water but all their efforts are not favourable number of people. Last year, the World Bank approved a $700 million loan for Nigeria’s Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Programme (SURWASH) to provide six million people with basic drinking water services and 1.4 million people access to improved sanitation services.
In January this year, the Federal Government (FG) through the then Minister for Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu had promised to tackle open defecation and water challenges in the country. Speaking at the 29th Regular Meeting of the National Council of Water Resources (NCWR) in Sokoto, Adamu said that the government’s flagship projects and programmes implemented through the ministry had, “undeniably, resulted in improved access to water for the variety of applications and improvements in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Sector.” Adamu added that his Ministry has since 2019 embarked on a Nationwide Campaign through the ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign and stressed that as of December 2022, one State (Jigawa State) and 100 LGAs Nationwide have been certified Open Defecation Free.
Speaking as the statewide campaign on CLEAN NIGERIA: USE THE TOILET CAMPAIGN held in June at Aiyetoro Market in Epe Local Council, the Permanent Secretary, Office of Environmental Services, Tajudeen Omobolaji, said the state would meet the 2025 target for ending open defecation and provision of clean water. “It is my hope that in view of the importance of this campaign to our national developmental process, we will meet the goal of eradicating open defecation by 2025,” he said.
However, despite these promises by the federal and state governments open defecation still thrives due basically to lack of access to water to clean up and toilet facilities. For example, checks across Minna and Bosso revealed that several people still defecate in the open, and several of them who were not shy to talk about this said that it is easy to do as they do not need to source for water when they want to defecate. Halima Ali, a mother of three from one of the shanty settlements, Nayinawa in Damaturu, the State capital recounts the tale of her daughter falling ill due to contaminated water resulting from nearby open defecation sites.
“As a mother, it is heart-wrenching to watch your child suffer,” she said.
“We need change; we deserve access to clean water and toilets.”
The harsh reality of the prevalence of open defecation in Yobe State sufficed during an encounter in another major settlement- Pompomari in Damaturu, the state capital, where Aisha Wakil, who escorted her two young children, Sadiq and Babagana, to an open area for defecation at midday. For Wakil, her modest mud-thatched house is devoid of one of life’s most essential amenities – a toilet. As she leads her children to an open space, she explained that their home lacks the crucial infrastructure required for sanitation. “Our house does not have water and a toilet,” she lamented. But within the simplicity of her words lies a profound truth: necessity often breeds unconventional solutions.
She justifies her choice by pointing to a refuse dump site located directly opposite their home.
“Even if the children defecate inside the house,” Aisha explains, “I would still have to gather and dispose of it at that place.” Her rationale, though seemingly at odds with hygiene norms, unveils the harsh practicalities faced by families like hers. A resident of Lekki Phase 2, Lagos, Tunde Oladunjoye said that ‘’concerning open defecation, though it is too common, destitute or people who sleep around do that due to lack of access to water and toilet facility.”
In his remarks, the General Manager of RUWASA, Abubakar Liman Baba said Yobe State became the first in the BAY (Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe) States to have a local government declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) in Machina Local Government Area. According to him, the strategy involves focusing on high-population local governments, such as Fune, which has over 800 communities. ‘’The aim is to create a ripple effect that influences neighboring areas. Then moving to rural local government areas like Machina and then, an urban settlement like Bade Local Government,” he said.
Stakeholders speak on way forward
Stakeholders believe that the government has not been able to address the infrastructural deficit in public water provision in the quest to end open defecation. Executive Director of Environmental Health Initiative, Lucy Obla said that both the federal, state, and local governments would have to close the gap in the provision of water facilities in the country.
“It would be difficult to curb open defecation in Nigeria because water is in short supply in many states of the federation and Abuja. Water is intertwined with sanitation and engendering a hygienic environment. Even when there are both public and private toilets, water would be required to clean up and flush human waste. It is therefore important that there must be adequate water supply to inculcate or encourage the use of toilet facilities and stop open defecation in the country. Government at all levels must be committed to bridging the gap in access to water supply if indeed Nigeria is ready to stop or end open defecation come 2025.”
In his view, the General Manager of FCT Water Board, Tawheed Amusan, gave a factual analysis of current infrastructural inadequacies that hinder possibilities for optimal water supply and why the 2025 target for ending open defecation may be unrealisable.
“There are external and internal challenges. Internal challenges arise from the infrastructure. Our infrastructure has a major gap. We have an installed capacity of 30,000 cubic metres in Lower Usuma Dam which is inadequate, and even, within th per cent% efficiency which makes it extremely low for a city like Abuja. The fact that we have not had a grounded water supply situation in Abuja is due to the special efforts of our team of engineers and divine help from God because it is a very tough situation that we are in. Our water facilities right now, are under-implemented and operating at 47 per cent. What I mean is that by now, Abuja is supposed to have at least 60, 000 cubic litres of production but we are only having 30, 000 cubic litres per hour operating at 47 per cent. It’s tough!
“Another challenge is the major pipes that bring water from the treatment plants into the city; it is inadequate. The latest ones laid to bring water into Abuja city was in the year 2000; ever since then, no new or additional major pipes and the city has kept growing and the population has continued to grow considerably. Ever since then, the next major trunk that should have come was awarded as a contract since 2006 and as we speak, that job is yet to be completed. So you can imagine the circumstances under which we operate, it is tough!
“Water supply is key to ending open defecation. Water affects job creation, it affects poverty alleviation, it affects the environment, creation of jobs, water affects everything. Water is life! We want to eradicate open defecation by 2025 but from what I’m seeing now, with all our WASH efforts, we still have close to 600 local governments to go. So, are we going to attain 2025 ODF target? Not likely. If we don’t redouble our efforts now, I do not see us attaining it by 2030.”
