My Regrets As Water Resources Minister – Adamu

My Regrets As Water Resources Minister – Adamu

With only five months left in President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Suleiman Adamu, Minister of Water Resources, has given himself high marks but expressed regret over his inability to carry out some major projects and programs that would have improved Nigerians’ well-being.

He stated that the Buhari administration has done exceptionally well in the water resources sector, including the completion of numerous irrigation projects, the launch of the P-WASH program, the Clean-Nigeria campaigns, and general improvement in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) subsector, with 83 local councils in the country declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) as a result of the government’s massive awareness campaign.

Adamu also stated that Nigeria’s accession to the UN Convention on Water was an important step toward further discussion of inter-basin water transfer.

In an interview with The Guardian in Abuja, the minister cited the administration’s achievement in the sector as the successful completion and construction of approximately 6,700 water supply schemes nationwide.

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“The water resources sector is not like something you can have a snapshot of. As long as there is water, there would be challenges of flood, disasters, sanitation issues and as population increases you need more water to provide to the people. It continues to cycle,” he said.

He went on to say that it was for this reason that the administration developed a 16-year water plan, despite knowing that it only has eight years in office.

Despite its importance, he regretted that the President’s efforts to garner international support for the Lake Chad Inter-Basin Water Transfer were futile.

For the next 50 years, the project was designed to provide water to Maiduguri and a large portion of the North East region for irrigation and water supply.

“Unfortunately, the Russia-Ukraine war diverted the attention of the international community from matters of socio-economic development,” he said.

On the domestic front, Adamu cited bureaucratic bottlenecks, a lack of funds, time, and the disruptive effects of COVID-19 as factors that prevented the administration from completing some of the projects that would have consolidated the government’s diversification drive.

He added: “The challenge is that the government process takes time. You have to do this and that. At the end of the day, sometimes, some of the things that need to get running in one or two months take six months. I understand it is all part of the effort to secure the system. I think, honestly, some of these procedures and regulations work against the progress of the system for some of us that come from the private sector.”

According to him, the government would have liked to complete certain projects because it has been very successful in diversifying the economy and putting agriculture on the front burner, and agriculture cannot function without water.

“For instance, if time and resources had permitted, the Hawal Inter-Basin Water Transfer and the South Chad Irrigation projects, when put in place, would have further boosted Nigeria’s agricultural sector through the irrigation system,” he said.

He did, however, point out that government is a process, saying, “We came here. We inherited a lot of problems, which we fixed. I’ll make sure to leave a good handover note so that whoever comes after me can carry on.”

When he leaves office, the minister plans to become a WASH advocate in order to continue to impact and improve the sector. “I want to stay involved in WASH issues even as a private citizen,” he said.

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