By Jude Njoku

The 774 local government areas in Nigeria should domesticate the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy and create Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) departments, adequately staff them and provide funds for their operations. In the same vein, state governments should put in place water quality monitoring and surveillance systems to monitor all water supply points in the states by committing certain percentage of their budget for the purpose. These were some of the recommendations made by participants at the just concluded 2nd National Water and Sanitation conference held at the National Water Resources Institute in Kaduna.

The participants called on state and local government councils to liaise with the Federal Government to carry out holistic survey of illegal mining activities as they affect drinking water quality in those areas.

They recommended that results of research activities conducted by academic and research institutions should be forwarded to relevant stakeholders for implementation of recommendations.

“The village level operation and maintenance (VLOM) concept should be integrated into all rural water supply projects towards achieving sustainability. Also, consultations with all stakeholders should be intensified for effective adoption and implementation of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in water supply and sanitation,” they canvassed.

The participants further enjoined the state and local government areas to embrace the Water Investment Mobilisation Application Guideline (WIMAG) framework for development of their water and sanitation infrastructures.

“For proper implementation of community-led total sanitation (CLTS), the LGAs should integrate natural leaders in the process and back the approach with adequate water supply for effective hygiene and sanitation practices by community members. Latrine design options promoted by governments and development assistance agencies should be environmentally friendly, socio-culturally acceptable, suitable for use by persons with disability and affordable to community members,” they suggested. They advised local government councils to embark on sustained and well organised sanitation awareness campaigns on the need for proper excreta and general waste disposal.

The annual event, brought together stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector in Nigeria to exchange experiences and put up recommendations towards achieving the national development objectives and the MDGs targets.