Committee: ​United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

Topic: ​Africa’s Water Scarcity

Country:​ Nigeria
Nigeria water scarcity

The issue of water scarcity is one that is felt in every corner of the globe. Daily over two billion
people are impacted by water scarcity. They may have access to water, but it may not be clean or
reliable. (UN water) Without reliable clean water, communities suffer from health problems, and
economic stagnation, as well as lack of education. Women’s lives, in particular, are limited when
clean water is scarce. It becomes their job to secure water and consumes their time. (Water
Scarcity) Water also adds to international tensions when two , countries must share the scarce
water resource two-thirds of internationally shared bodies of water do not have a plan to properly
share the water (United Nations assessment) According to water expert Steven Solomon tensions
over water will continue to increase in the next hundred years as populations rise in water-scarce
regions such as the Middle East and the Nile River basin. (Bohan) Within countries, issues such
as government corruption, disorganization, miscommunication, and mismanagement between
levels of government and a continued lack of sanitation continue to put clean water out of reach
for many people, especially in rural areas. (UN Global assessment)
Over 215 cubic cm of water reaches Nigeria each year. It seems like plenty of water but
Nigeria's lack of management of water sources leaves the country with only 19% of citizens
being able to drink clean safe water (Nigeria is wasting water sources). Nigeria is a part of the
United Nations Declaration of the right to water which means everyone in Nigeria has the right
to clean and safe water for personal use. The different levels of Government in Nigeria aren’t
communicating with each other resulting in chaos. Nigeria has been blinded by the need to build
physical infrastructure rather than the other elements of the water crisis such as sanation
Although Nigeria has made a great expansion of water accessibility and now 67% of the 183
million people have access to water. Nigeria has made large strides towards providing citizens
with water but has a lot to work on sanitation. Currently, 7 in 10 Nigerians still don’t have access
to a good toilet. This increases the risk of illness and disease (Water Aid Nigeria). Nigeria is
working on bettering previous water sources to make them safe for drinking and is also working
on its management within the Ministry of Water sources (Sanation and Water for All). Getting
water to people has been groundbreaking for the nation but initially what they need is clean,
reliable, and safe water to drink and citizens aren’t getting that.
The water crisis isn’t going to be something that is going to get solved overnight but if
we ignore this fact wars will we fought and people will die wether to the lack over water,
war/conflict, or climate change. Before physical water gets involved all nations need to start
forming their own water management that will oversee the water process as a whole without, it
would result in a frenzy of disorganization. After the countries have a trusted water management
system in place that is when countries should start getting water to people a building to
infrastructure for proper sanitation. This will be a very costly process and without the help from
neighboring or outside countries, it wouldn’t be possible, so another import part of ending this
crisis spreading the word all over the planet forcing people to understand how bad it truly is
everyone should be aware of this disaster. Nigeria isn’t the only country with the problem of
mismanagement, take the DRC for example by starting with solving the problem or management
it will continue to answer others all over Africa.
 speech
The water crisis isn’t going to be something that is going to get solved overnight but if we ignore
this fact wars will we fought and people will die wether to the lack over water, war/conflict, or
climate change. Before physical water gets involved all nations need to start forming their own
water management that will oversee the water process as a whole without, it would result in a
frenzy of disorganization. After the countries have a trusted water management system in place
that is when countries should start getting water to people a building to infrastructure for proper
sanitation. This will be a very costly process and without the help from neighboring or outside
countries, it wouldn’t be possible, so another import part of ending this crisis spreading the word
all over the planet forcing people to understand how bad it truly is everyone should be aware of
this disaster. Nigeria isn’t the only country with the problem of mismanagement, take the DRC
for example by starting with solving the problem or management it will continue to answer
others all over Africa.
 Work cited

UN Global Assessment of Water and Sanitation: Nigeria.​ United Nations, 2004

www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/monitoring/investments/nigeria-10-nov.pdf?ua=1​.

Water Project: Water Scarcity & the Importance of Water Spring 2019

https://thewaterproject.org/water-scarcity/

Water Crisis Through the Lens of History: Peter Bohan April 22, 2010

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-books-water/looking-at-water-crisis-through-le

ns-of-history-idUSTRE63L5EQ20100422

The Conservaion: Nigeria is Wating Rich Water Sources Odume & Slaughter September 5, 2017

https://theconversation.com/how-nigeria-is-wasting-its-rich-water-resources-83110

United nations: Water Spring 2019

https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/water/

Water Aid: Nigeria Spring 2019

https://www.wateraid.org/us/where-we-work/nigeria