The importance of access to portable clean water cannot be overemphasized. Take a moment to imagine all the things we do with water. We cook with water, wash our clothes with it, bath with it, drink it and so on and so forth.
Water is essential for life. Without it nothing can survive. Water can change lives. It has the power to turn dreams into realities, and poverty into possibility. It also has the power to turn time spent into time saved, when it’s close and not hours away. Water has the power to unlock education, create economic potential, and improve health.
It is important to know that water makes up 60% of an adult male, 55% of an adult female, 65% of children and 75% of infants. This clearly shows that infants and children need more water than men and women. The amount of water in the human heart and brain is 73%, the lungs are 83%, muscles and kidneys are 79%, the skin is 64%, and the bones are around 31%.
To underscore the importance of water to human life, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) aims to ensure availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030, and the theme for World Water Day 2019 is ‘Leaving no one behind’.
Unfortunately, today, billions of people around the world are still living without safe water. Nigeria is not an exception, as over 63 million of its people still live without access to portable clean water?
At the commemoration of World Water Day 2019, Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu urged state governments to prioritise access to provision of potable water and stop paying ‘lip service’ to the problem. He stated that a large number of states have refused to make the provision of portable clean water a priority, adding that the burden was left to the Federal Government. He also said that ordinarily and constitutionally, the Federal Government has nothing to do with actual provision of water supply to the tap.
What is the way out?
Yes, the problem exists' - about half of Nigeria's population lacks portable clean water. But what is the way out? We cannot continue living this wat? How does Nigeria join the rest of the world to ensure that "no one is left behind" in the journey to SDG 2030? One of the ways to do that is to join the global campaign to ensure that the SDG 2030 is achieved. In addition, Nigerians MUST commit to holding their leaders (at the 3 tiers of government) responsible by using any means necessary to remind them of their duties.
Whoever you are, wherever you are, water is your human right. Access to water underlies public health and is therefore critical to sustainable development and a stable and prosperous world. We cannot move forward as a nation while so many people are living without safe water.
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment