NAN-AE-3
Equity
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, Feb. 9, 2017 (NAN) Dr Hassan Bdliya, Chairman of Global Water Partnership (GWP), Nigeria has called for an effective use of the country’s water resources to promoting equity and sustainable development.
Bdliya told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday that Nigeria needed to understand that “water is a resource that could finish if not properly used in line with the principles of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM)”.
He said the IWRM emphasised the need to use water, putting in consideration sustainability, equity and reduce conflict that may come from poor use of water resources.
According to him, the history of IWRM in Nigeria has been bedeviled with several circumstances, making the public not to get the best out of the water they have.
Bdliya said these challenges were caused by poor management, saying stakeholders developed water resources without following guidelines or principles, instead of solving problems, ended up creating problems.
“There are many examples in Nigeria , we have several dams and many people benefiting from the dams and many people likewise are also crying out that these dams have created more problems than solutions for them.
“What the IWRM tries to do is to bring together all the concerned parties so that there would be a participatory approach in handling WRM issues.
“The concept was arrived at through interactions at the global level and it is now based on a set up of principles which each country which embrace IWRM is supposed to employ in managing water at any level.
“These principles include the need to recognise that water is finite, and it therefore has to be managed in a manner that you recognise that it can finish.
“It also recognises that it has a commercial as well as a social value, it has to be managed in a way that reflects those values.”
The chairman said all stakeholders needed to recognised that women played a critical role in water resources management, saying they should not be ignored when such issue was being discussed.
He said GWP Nigeria had been partnering with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to implementing IWRM guidelines to promoting sustainability and development.
Bdliya said the group had attracted fundings for the implementation of pilot projects that led to food security by working on the inter-face between water, environment and agriculture production.
“We have been able to bring together this family of various players from private, public sector, academia to work as a family with a common goal to promoting improvement in water resources management.”
He said GWP Nigeria, accredited by the GWP Sweden, had also been working on national dialogues to promote water and food security, saying this would be better carried out with implementation of IWRM guidelines.
NAN reports that GWP Nigeria supports the effort of Government through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission and other stakeholders. (NAN)
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Edited by Morayo Omolade