The Federal Government has said Nigeria was unable to attain the Millennium Development Goals targets on water supply and sanitation owing to poor investments, low capacity and other challenges.
The Minister for Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu said this at Iyamo, Edo State, during the third founders’ day of the Edo University, Iyamo.
According to the Minister, whereas the current level of investment is less than half a billion dollars, an estimated 5 billion dollars annual investment will be required to meet the MDG targets.
Adamu, who was represented by the Managing Director of Benin-Owena River Basin Development Authority, Ahmed Saliu said the challenges of sanitation were not limited to rural areas, but equally a huge challenge in the urban areas, especially in public places and urban slums.
He said it is estimated that more than 48 million Nigerians practice open defecation which place Nigeria as the second in the world, following India, which plans to stop open defecation by October 2019.
