The United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) Sokoto Field Office has decried acute potable water supply in many Zamfara outreach communities in the 14 local government areas of the state.
This, it said, posed serious predicaments requiring urgent measures by the state and local government councils to ameliorate the trend.
Chief Wash Programme Officer of UNICEF Sokoto Field Office Mr Mohammed Mohiuddin said this Friday at the 2019 world water day commemoration in Gusau.
The programme was organised by 2019 by UNICEF Sokoto field office in collaboration with the Zamfara state chapter of Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA).
Represented by wash officer of the programme, Mr. Ebiri Eteng, he said the national demographic survey conducted by UNICEF through Sustainable Development Goals Programmes indicated Zamfara state had 44.2 percent water supply in 2018.
He said the percentage had shown that majority of people at rural areas lacked access to potable water supply in all the local government areas of state.
“We are appealing to state government to increased its budgetary allocation to Wash and Shown programmes in order to salvage the rural communities from the challenge of acute potable drinking water shortage and improved their health conditions, ” he said.
He said the UNICEF SHAWN and other intervention programmes in the state would round off by 2030, stating however that UNICEF would remain resolute to partner with Zamfara state government to achieve all the desired objectives.
He commended the Zamfara state government for the support and commitment given to UNICEF to actualise the stated goals.
In an address of welcome, Zamfara state programme manager, RUWASA, Alhaji Sani Yaro said, statistics showed over 663 million people were living without safer water supply in the world.
He said, “Majority are spending countless hours queuing or trekking to distance sources, coping with the health impacts of using some contaminated water.”
Also speaking at the event, the state commissioner for rural and community development, Alhaji Idris Keta, who was represented by the permanent secretary of the ministry, Alhaji Yusuf Abdullahi, said the state government had released the sum of N50 million to the RUWASA as an instalment of the expected release of N400 million counterpart fund to SHAWN project this year.
This, he said, was with a view to improving water supply system and hygiene in the state.