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NEWSAN Tasks States On Transparency In Portable Water Supply

Published

6 years ago

December 31, 2020

Mustapha Suleiman

The Society for Water and Sanitation (NEWSAN), has urged state governors to allocate more resources to ensure portable water supply to Nigerians.

This call was made by the NEWSAN, National Coordinator, Mr. Benson Attah during a high-powered visit to Kaduna state.

NEWSAN is a coordinating network of over 300 Civil Society Organisations, Non- Governmental Organisations, and Community Based Organisations in water, sanitation, and hygiene spread over six geopolitical zones of Nigeria to ensure access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities for all Nigerians.

Attah said that NEWSAN had prior to Kaduna visit, visited Ekiti, Benue and Cross River states in its efforts to ensure that state governments nationwide comply with. So, Kaduna was the last state we visited on the high-level advocacy visit being carried out by the NEWSAN national executive committee.

Citing reasons for the visit, Attah said that it was meant to actualize its plans and concerns about the ways water sanitation are being managed particularly at the state level.

He said, “ NEWSAN have been concerned about the ways water sanitation are being managed particularly at the state level and we have discovered that states come up with a budget, but such budget are not released for implementation. Sometimes, they come up with very minimal amount, we have seen a state where only 1 million naira was released for WASH for a whole year and we are wondering was that to pay the staff salaries or buy groundnut. What would I million naira do for a whole sector in a state? And we have also seen a state where they approved money for WASH in their 2015 budget and at the end, the 500 million was released, going to see what the money was released for, we could not trace anything.

“No activities, no projects could be traced for that amount, so they just used the WASH sector as a pipeline to siphon the money and that was a political, electioneering year, so, they used it for election and this is deceptive because any other person who doesn’t know will think such state is doing very well. And it could mislead the developing partners from even paying attention to such a state because they will assume a state that is releasing 500 million nairas is doing well. And that state they assumed is doing well might even be the worst.’’

He reiterated NEWSAN’s commitment to work closely with stakeholders under the support of the Water Supply Collaborative Council (WCC) and Sanitation and Water for all (SWA) in improving water sanitation across the country.

The NEWSAN coordinator noted that in the past, the water sector was driven by the development partners, but was supposed to be the responsibility of the government to drive the process as applicable in every sector in the country.

He, however, commended the current minister for Water Resources Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu for his proactive measures in driving the process that will lead to safe water delivery to Nigerians as envisioned by WASH.

He said that the organization has trained its members in the aspect of budget monitoring in the area of water supply and sanitation to ensure accountability and probity on the part of the government and all stakeholders.

Attah stressed that adequate clean water supply, toilet availability to curb open defecation as well as robust budget allocation for the water sector will go a long way in addressing the health epidemic nationwide.

He also urged the government at all levels to support the girl-child in the provision of sanitary pads to save them from the challenges they face in their monthly menstrual flow, which he said is harrowing especially when they are from poor families and cannot afford to pay for the sanitary pads.

He said, ‘’ some girl-child don’t go to school during their menstrual period just because they cannot afford to buy sanitary pads and don’t want to face the embarrassment that goes with it in public. So there is a need for government to make sanitary pads free at schools for the girl-child.’’

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Alake Inaugurates Nigeria-US Solid Minerals Committee, Dismisses $700bn Claim, Says No Assets Sold

Published

3 hours ago

October 28, 2026

The Gleamer

Joel Ajayi

The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, on Tuesday inaugurated the Nigeria-United States Committee on Strategic Cooperation in the Solid Minerals Sector in Abuja, dismissing reports that Nigeria sold $700 billion worth of solid minerals to the US.

The inauguration followed the strategic cooperation framework established between Nigeria and the United States during the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.

In a statement issued on Wednesday by the Head PRESS and Public Relations Department Mrs. Kania Maliki Andeyaba stated that, Alake in the Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, signed with the US is a government-to-government platform to facilitate business-to-business engagements between American investors and Nigerian local operators, not a sale of assets.

Harping on the importance of the solid minerals sector to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic diversification agenda, he noted that the administration was committed to reducing dependence on a mono-product economy through the sustainable development of Nigeria’s vast mineral resources.

According to him, the Nigeria–US partnership as a strategic initiative to attract investment, promote technology transfer, strengthen local mineral processing and create employment opportunities.

“There is no sale of any Nigerian asset. There’s nothing exchanging hands,” Alake declared.

“We created a platform to facilitate mingling of US investment ventures with Nigeria’s local operators. It is in the public domain. We signed it in public and published it in four or five national newspapers.”

The Minister said reports claiming the US was coming to take over Nigeria’s minerals and security architecture were untrue at best and products of riotous imagination at worst.

Explaining the policy thrust, Alake said Africa has historically held the short end of the stick in global economic transactions, and Nigeria is determined to change that model.

“We have the resources, the critical elements the world needs to transit to clean energy. So we are creating a new paradigm — you bring your capital, expertise and technology, to match with our natural resources and create a win-win situation . The investor gains, Nigeria gains.’’he said.

Nigeria, he stressed, had operated a mono-cultural economy dependent on oil, while solid minerals were exploited informally — with ores taken “from pit to port” without value addition.

Alake said government has now made local processing mandatory, refusing to grant mineral titles to investors without a clear pathway to processing in Nigeria.

He said the policy led to the springing up of processing factories, including the largest lithium processing plant in West Africa commissioned recently in Nasarawa by the Vice President, and informed the formation of the African Minerals Strategy Group.

Alake noted that investor confidence has returned due to macro-economic reforms by President Bola Tinubu that guarantee security of tenure and repatriation of profits.

He charged the committee to discharge its assignment responsibly, saying its work is strategic to achieving the President’s $1 trillion economy target.

To this end, he told the Committee to ensure effective coordination, identify investment opportunities and translate the framework into measurable outcomes capable of positioning Nigeria as a competitive player in the global solid minerals industry.

In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Faruk Yusuf Yabo, said the inauguration translates growing bilateral engagements into a structured framework for practical cooperation and investment mobilization

Economic Officer at the US Embassy, Jonathan Baas, said President Donald Trump has prioritized three areas for US embassies — energy, artificial intelligence/super intelligence, and critical minerals.

Baas said Washington’s direction is to work with partners to secure critical supply chains while ensuring partners capture value.

“We just signed a contract today on looking into building AI data centres in Nigeria at the Nigerian Economic Summit. That’s the direction Washington wants us to go,” he said.

In his vote of thanks, CEO/Managing Director of Nigeria Solid Minerals Company, NSMC said that the committee

is expected to coordinate implementation, facilitate investment and monitor progress towards achieving the objectives of the Nigeria–US cooperation framework.

The inauguration reinforces the Federal Government’s commitment to repositioning the solid minerals sector as a key driver of economic diversification, industrial development and national prosperity under President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

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