Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe said at the opening ceremony of the 2014 World Water conference, holding in Stockholm Sweden, that Nigeria would not be intimidated into dropping her plans to use the available water resources in the country for hydro-power.
According to her, “we have found that hydro produces one of the cleanest sources of energy and it is affordable.
Mrs. Ochekpe, who was responding to the call by Mr Kandeh Yumkella, United Nations Under-Secretary for Sustainable Energy for All that Africa needed energy to fast track her development and should not be discouraged from using hydro power, said “Nigeria has not reached the stage where we have to ration water between energy and agriculture.”
She noted that Nigeria recognises the importance of energy in spurring development and that government was committed to increasing of the number of citizens with access to clean and safe water.
‘’ It is on this basis that government is working with states and the private sector to ensure that appropriate arrangements are put in place for the most efficient use of our water for multipurpose needs including power generation,” she added.
“The determination of the federal government is to ensure that 100 per cent of Nigerians have access to clean and safe water as against the 70 per cent that currently have,” Ochekpe said.
According to the Minister, the federal government was striving to enhance the quality of lives of Nigeria through the construction of dams that would increase the nation’s power generation capacity.
The 2014 World Water Week opened yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden with a call on the international community not to discourage Africa from deploying hydro technology for power generation..
“You cannot tell Africa not to build hydro power stations while the developed countries today account for over 80 per cent of the hydropower stations in existence,” Yumkella said.
He noted that energy was one of the most significant pillars of growth and that it was a market based business. “But the issue here is that such market does not exist yet in Africa.”
He said that the UN has complied statistics that showed that there existed 22 hot spots globally where energy or water or energy and water would become the sources of crisis in the nearest future.
“Because of the impending crisis, we are working hard to ensure that energy and water feature prominently in the next global goals that would come on board after the MDGs..
In a message to the Week, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia urged the participants not to forget the importance of clean water, adequate sanitation and hygiene. “This is a crucial year to raise the issue of water around the world.”
The World Water Week provides a unique forum for the exchange of views, experiences and practices between the scientific, business, policy and civic communities. It focuses on new thinking and positive action toward water-related challenges and their impact on the world’s environment, health, climate, economic and poverty reduction.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
