LASG Seeks Stakeholder-Support For Effective Water Regulatory Guidelines
Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday, sought the buy-in of major stakeholders and Nigerians who engage in the provision of water and wastewater services to ensure the effectiveness of regulatory guidelines in the water sector.
The Governor made the appeal at the 2020 Lagos Water Conference held at the Muson Centre, Onikan, through the Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tunji Bello.
He stated that the buy-in is essential to ensure that the water people consume is not only safe but stored in a suitable environment.
Sanwo-Olu added,”the clarion call on stakeholders became necessary because global environmental regeneration programmes in the water sector globally are now regulatory-based and no government at any level can do it all alone.”
He continued, “some of the problems of non-existent or insufficient water supply were created by residents who pollute sources of clean water, the unregulated sinking of boreholes, abuse and non-regeneration of water aquifers, among others.”
While stressing that these problems are matched only by the government’s ability to create solutions, the Governor challenged the forum to come up with sustainable resolutions for repositioning water governance and regulatory dispensation in Lagos State as a whole.
He explained that good water management all over the world is one of the prerequisites of good governance, adding that at the end of the Dutch Water Governance Centre (WGC) 2011, a brief memorandum was produced in which five elementary building blocks for good water governance were developed.
The Governor emphasised that without the building blocks, there can not be good water governance and these include a powerful administrative organisation of water management; a legally embedded system of water law and adequate financing system; a systematic (planning) approach and the participation of stakeholders.
He stated that at the inception of the present administration, it pledged to create a safe, healthy and conducive environment for the good people of the State and has continued to demonstrate its commitment to the pledge through its various environmental regeneration programmes, one of which is the enthronement of a regulatory regime in the water sector.
Sanwo-Olu, therefore, called on all and sundry to join the train of collective transformation while assuring that the State government will continue to create an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the water sector.
Earlier in his remarks, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Sulaiman Adamu emphasised that it is imperative for the State and Federal Governments to synergise in order to provide potable water for all citizens at all times.
The Minister, who spoke through the Executive Director, Nigeria Integrated Water Resources Management Commission, Engr. Magashi Umar stressed that the Government must ensure the implementation of water regulation laws so as to find a lasting solution to the water sector.
In her welcome address, the Executive Secretary, Water Regulatory Commission, Mrs. Funke Adepoju, expressed appreciation to the State Government for placing a high premium on the provision of clean, safe and quality water in a sustainable environment and called on Lagosians to see themselves as stakeholders to ensure the realisation of the vision.
The Guest Speaker from Osmotek, South Africa, Mr. Julius Steyn, maintained that Lagos State has the ability to serve as a benchmark for the rest of the world based its technological know-how and renowned personnel.
He explained that the payment for water in Lagos State was undervalued and affordable when compared to other parts of the world where expensive tariffs prevail and water is difficult to access.
One of the highlights of the conference was the unveiling of borehole permit for drillers and residents as well as four different books on water resources management and regulations by the Governor and others.
