A senate panel has rejected the federal government’s $700
million loan request for Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation
and Hygiene (SURWASH).
In May, the World Bank approved a $700 million credit
facility for the federal government to enable 1.4 million people to access
improved sanitation services.
Esther Walson-Jack, permanent secretary, ministry of water
resources, who appeared before the panel to defend the ministry’s 2022 budget,
told the lawmakers that $640 million out of the proposed loan would be deployed
for the project, while $60 million is earmarked for capacity building.
“The proposal was negotiated with the World Bank on April
2021 and approved at Federal Executive Council on August 11, 2021,” Walson-Jack
said.
“States that would benefit from the $700 million loan from
World Bank are Delta, Ekiti, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Katsina, and Plateau, with
counterpart funding of $175 million.
“The programme will deliver improved water sanitation and
hygiene services to 2,000 schools and health care facilities and assist 500
Communities to achieve an end to open defecation free status.”
However, Clifford Ordia, chairman of the committee, said
several loans had been approved for various water projects.
According to him, $450 million was approved for the same
project being financed by Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and $6 million under
the integrated programme for development — financed by AfDB and Gurara water
project.
“You need to tell us what you are doing with $700 million
for water projects,” Ordia said.
Another lawmaker, Ibrahim Oloriegbe, asked his colleagues to
decline approval for the loan because other loans had been approved for the
same purpose.
“What is the criterion for selecting benefiting states? The
details you are providing is not enough. What are the projects you want to do
with $640 million, and how much water are you going to do,” he asked.
“You are giving each state $3 million to develop personnel
capacity, do we need a loan to do this function? You mean all states can’t do
that on their own?”
The committee ruled that Adamu Suleiman, minister of water
resources, should appear before it to account for water projects approved for
the ministry.
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