The African Women Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Network (AWWASHNet) has called for Public-Public partnership in the administration of water as a human right as against the Public-Private Partnership which would make water to be priced above the reach of the poor and lead to job losses.
The call was made by Veronica Nwanya, the Coordinator of AWWASHNet during a sensitization among market women in Ogba to mark the annual Africa Week of Action 2022, tagged, ‘African Communities in Solidarity Against Water Privatisation’.
While speaking to the market women, Nwanya who said Water is critical to social and economic development and directly affects the behaviour of society, stressed that the importance of social and economic approaches to the management of water scarcity is increasingly being recognized.
She noted that women bear the brunt of providing water for their homes and the sensitization is born out of concern for the lack of access to quality drinking water within the market, the state situation of the state water works and the quality of the water supply.
Aderonke Ige, associate Director with Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) explained to the women the importance of rejecting water Privatisation as the consequences will be grievous thereafter.
AWWASHNet Chairperson, Lady Vickie Uremma Onyekuru, cited the Water issue in Africa. Water scarcity affects 1 in 3 people in the African Region and is getting worse with population growth, urbanization and increases in household and industrial uses.
“Water scarcity in Africa is predicted to reach dangerously high levels by 2025. It is estimated that about two-thirds of the world’s population may suffer from freshwater shortage by 2025. The main causes of water scarcity in Africa are physical and economic scarcity, rapid population growth, and climate change,” she noted.
Onyekuru went further to say, the Drivers of Water Scarcity are Poverty. Poverty is a huge barrier to access to water and sanitation, and most of the world’s poorest countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. Natural disasters, increased pollution, and a lack of resources are all driving forces of the water crisis in sub-Saharan Africa.