The long walk to proper hygiene, sanitation and portable water seems to be an endless one in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria, as recent findings have revealed that some communities do not have access to one of the essential needs of man.

This revelation came to the fore during a fact finding mission embarked upon by some team of journalists to two communities in the state.

The continuous neglect of water and sanitation issues in the state by past and present administrations has brought the state to a pitiable position in the committee of state governments. Many indigenes have suffered serious health challenges, while some communities are at the edge of extinction due to lack of portable water and proper hygiene.

In one of the communities visited in the state, Osan Ekiti, a community in Moba, Local Government Area of the state, the king, His Royal Majesty, Oba (Alhaji) Jimoh Tajudeen Bamidele, complained that water is their major problem.

In his words,’’I have tried my best since I inherited this throne five years ago to bring water, but all my efforts is useless, because there was no support from the government. Particularly, the road leading to our community has been destroyed since seven years ago and the water pipe underneath is bad.”

He continues, ‘We have two water reservoirs, yet none is working. As the saying goes ‘water is life’ and since we don’t have it we resolved to drinking stream water and this had a lot of implications on my people as this has caused epidemics among members of my community.”

He further said, “Anytime rain falls, the stream carries a lots of dirt from different places and since we don’t have any other place to get water, we have no choice than to drink the water. Also we don’t have toilets in this community, but we are making effort towards that. Our people defecate in bush that surround us and that’s because we don’t have toilets. We need the help of government, CSOs and all sons and daughters of this community to come and support its growth in provision of water and other social amenities.”

In another interview with a chief in the same community, High Chief James Adewunmi, the Inurin of Osan Ekiti, he said the only maternity centre  in the community has a water provision and that has been the saving grace of the people, adding that by now disease would have wiped out the entire community. He equally noted that despite that, the community needs more water points to serve the people.

Another respondent, Mrs Kemi Adewunmi, a food vendor with four children, complained that ‘’I always employ the service of a car to get water from Iro which is about five kilometres from Osan in order to cook and I need to bribe or pay some gratification to water sellers if I want it fast.”

She further laments  that the government has done little or nothing to assist in the area of water and basic hygiene provision and this time she will only vote for a leader who has a track record of making promises and fulfilling them.

One of the youths of the community, Adebayo Sodimu, stated, “We usually go the bush to defecate. We need the help of the government to bring water and sanitation to our community, we are ready to support them.”

The Assistant Headmaster of Saint Andrew Catholic Primary School Osan, Mr. Emmanuel Omofemi, in an interview session with journalists said,  “There is nothing like water system in this school. Our children go to the bush to defecate and that is about a kilometer from our school, the government should help us with water and latrine.”

However, the people of Osi community in Ekiti State have similar tales to tell. In an interview, Chief Mrs. Oluwafeyiranti Akinbode, a woman leader in Osi, lamented the bad state of the water they use for their daily need in the community. She described the Osi Stream, which is the only source of water in the community, as not good for drinking.

She further lamented that the none availability of good roads and schools has equally worsened the living condition in the community as this has increased the poverty level of the indigenes.

She further said that the politicians usually come, promising heaven and earth, but ends up turning into lies and they have made up their mind to vote only for those leaders, that have a track records of fulfilling their promises, particularly the promise of provision of portable water for the community.

She further lamented the pains women in the community go through when going through child labor, as most of the time they find it difficult to get water to use in the process by the nurses.

The Ekiti State Water and Sanitation Law which was passed in 2013  has virtually been put in the dust bin as the state Task Force on Sanitation which was mandated to enforce the pact appears to have gone to sleep as soon as it was created.

Meanwhile, in a recent stakeholders meeting towards improving hygiene in the state some people have expressed worry that not less than 51 percent of the people of the state (about 1.5million) still lack access to drinkable water, while about 68.4 percent are still involved in open defecation.

A water and sanitation expert, Mr. Kole Adegbite, who made this disclosure hinted that government had put the issue of water, sanitation and hygiene in the back burner.

Adegbite said lack of access to drinkable water, poor sanitation and hygiene also accounted for no fewer than 100,000 deaths among children under five years in Nigeria annually.

Apart from that, Adegbite added that Nigeria loses about N45 billion annually due to inadequate sanitation and that the amount was about 1.3 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He called on opinion and community leaders to ensure politicians were made to commit themselves to giving water, sanitation and hygiene issues priority when elected into office.

When contacted, the Special Adviser to the governor of Ekiti state on Public Utilities, Deji Adesua, said that efforts are in progress to develop the water scheme in the state.

According to him, “The structure we met on ground was nothing to write home about and the first thing was to know the state of water in Ekiti State. The water map we have been using in Ekiti State is more than six years old. We found out that most of the facilities are not functioning, some have been vandalised and some are not working due to lack of power. We promise to rectify all this before the second quarter of our administration.”

By Wale Elekolusi (elekwal@gmail.com)

It’s time for stock-taking at the globally-acclaimed Lagos State Annual International Climate Change Summit, where eggheads will next week look inwards and set an agenda for the future.

After a chain of six successful forums that sought to explore the challenges and opportunities of climate change in Lagos in particular and the world in general, organisers of the event are now, at the occasion of the seventh gathering, attempting to evaluate the grounds gained while charting a way forward.

The three-day conference has “Seven years of Climate Change Governance in Lagos State: Celebrating Success Stories, Reviewing Challenges and Setting Future Agenda” as its theme. It holds from 21^st to 24^th April, 2015 at the Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The Summit has, so far, addressed various measures of combating climate effects through numerous mitigation and adaptation actions, shared best practices across boundaries, and explored inherent business opportunities. Also, the vulnerability and adaptability of climate change in major facets of life have been focused upon.

Achievements of the last six years include the Draft Lagos State Climate Change Policy Document and Action Plan, Lagos State Adaptation Strategy Documents produced to reinforce actions to address the challenges of climate change; the heightened collaboration with various non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Vulnerability Study on Coastal Areas to Climate Change in the state in conjunction with the United Nations International Development Organisation (UNIDO), the Eko Atlantic Project, Shoreline Protection of the Bar Beach and Rehabilitation of the Drainage Infrastructures in Lagos.

Others include the introduction of Mass Transportation Systems including Bus-Rapid Transit (BRT) and Light Rail Project, School Advocacy Programme, Yearly School Exchange Programme to Germany (where students from Lagos State public schools are sponsored to join their counterpart abroad), as well as participation of various government officials at international climate change conferences and events.

Additional achievements include establishment of waste-to-wealth programmes (such as Nylon Buy-back, Waste-to-Compost and Waste-to-Energy), Annual Tree Planting Campaign, Car Horn-free Campaign, the Greening Programme, and passing of laws to protect the environment.

For example, it is now an offence to fell a tree in Lagos, as doing so attracts a fine and the planting of five trees for every fallen tree. Amid the enactment of fresh laws (such as on noise pollution), environmental laws are likewise being harmonised, even as the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) has been elevated to the status of an Agency to enforce environmental laws.

State governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, says, “The input of the Lagos State Government in environmental regeneration and infrastructural development are in furtherance of sustainable environment.

“In Lagos, we have continued to landscape and beautify hitherto open spaces and loops that were then hideouts for miscreants. We have also modernised parks and gardens, as well as established an agency named the Lagos State Parks and Gardens (LASPARK) whose major role is to oversee the parks and gardens in the state and to continue the greening initiatives in order to assure modern town planners that the state is methodically planned with all its resources for an enviable regional national development.”

Last year, the 6^th Lagos Climate Change Summit held from 18^th to 20^th March and examined “Exploring Business Opportunities in Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation: Lagos State in Focus.” Previous events held 24^th to 26^th March, 2009; 4^th to 7^th May, 2010; 8^th to 10 February, 2011; 12^th to 14^th April 2012; and 13^th to 15^th March, 2013.

While the 2009 maiden event had “Reclaiming the Environment: Challenges and Consequences of Climate Change” as its theme, the follow-up in 2010 discussed: “Combating the Trans-Boundaries Effects of Climate Change: Sharing Best Practices on Mitigation and Adaptation Measures.”

Further, while the 2011 summit focused on: “Charting the Road Map for Combating Climate Change in Nigeria”, the gathering in 2012 explored issues related to: “Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Agriculture, Industry and Health Sectors in Focus”. In 2013, participants tabled: “Vulnerability and Adaptability to Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Transportation, Housing and Infrastructure in Focus” for discussion.

All past Climate Change Summits – as well as the upcoming one – have held under the tenure of Governor Fashola, who observers say has been committed to tackling the global environmental scourge in general and the unsavoury impact of the climate change phenomenon in Lagos in particular.

After a successful eight years (two-term tenure), Gov. Fashola will on 29^th May, 2015 formally and gracefully bow out. Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, worked closely with him throughout this period.

“Gone are the days when we could succinctly draw a line between the rainy season and dry season; gone are the days when harvest was predictable and bountiful; gone are the days when select species of certain fish were readily available on the menu table,” the governor observed in 2009 at the maiden Summit.

Subsequent events have however proved him right as, for example, when the heavens suddenly opened up on 10^th July, 2011 and, for 16 hours non-stop, Lagos experienced a torrential rainfall that is unparalleled in the history of the state. The memory still lingers on in the minds of Lagosians.

Ever since the July 2011 incident, Lagos has embarked on proactive measures to combat flooding by developing an all-year construction, maintenance and dredging of canals and drainage channels, a venture that has, for the third year running, received commendation from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) as the only state in the federation to come up with a comprehensive drainage/de-flooding programme.

Tunji Bello observed that most of the goals and targets set by the summit within the last seven years have been to a large extent achieved.

His words: “High level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission has been greatly reduced as a result of our numerous greening programmes – as the plants use up carbon dioxide and release oxygen as waste – such that Lagosians now breathe in cleaner air than before.

“The government has also built five Independent Power Projects (IPPs) in Lagos Island, Alausa, Akute, Mainland and Peninsula, leading to the decommissioning of several hitherto active industrial generators across the state, and greatly reducing air and noise pollution as well as conserving and ensuring energy efficiency.”

Nigeria’s international climate diplomacy on Friday in Bonn, Germany received a boost when its representative, Mr Peter Tarfa, emerged vice-chair of the Adaptation Fund Board’s Project and Programme Review Committee (AFB-PPRC).

Under the new capacity, Tarfa, who is a deputy director in the Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the Federal Ministry of Environment, will be responsible for evaluating and recommending submitted project and programme proposals to the Board for approval.

“This is a critical position and an added feather for Nigeria in international climate diplomacy,” remarked a source close to the DCC. Nigeria is representing Africa under the dispensation.

Tarfa will work closely with the new chair, Ms. Yuka Greiler from Switzerland – representing Western European and other Groups. The pair were elected during the 25^th Meeting of the AFB (AFB25) holding in Bonn.

Tarfa said: “The achievement is certainly for all of us in the climate change family. I could not have achieved this without everyone’s support.”

Regarding the preparation of the nation’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), he stated: “National efforts have started and we will soon host a national stakeholders’ meeting.”

The Adaptation Fund (AF) is a fund established under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to finance concrete adaptation projects and programmes in eligible developing countries that are particularly vulnerable to impacts of climate change. Nigeria is eligible.

A concrete adaptation project/programme is a set of activities aimed at addressing the adverse impacts of and risks posed by climate change. The activities shall aim at producing visible and tangible results on the ground by reducing vulnerability and increasing the adaptive capacity of human and natural systems to respond to the impacts of climate change, including climate variability. Adaptation projects/programmes can be implemented at the community, national, regional and transboundary levels. Projects/programmes concern activities with a specific objectives and concrete outcomes and outputs that are measurable, monitorable, and verifiable.

At present, up to US$10 million per country can be granted for projects and programmes and over US$165 million has been approved to date. This implies that the sum of US$10 million is available for Nigeria at the AFB subject to designating a National Implementing Entity and approval of submitted concrete project or programme proposal either through a National Implementing Entity (NIE) or a Multi-lateral Implementing Entity (MIE).

For a country to access the Adaptation Fund, it must be a party to the Kyoto Protocol; must be a vulnerable developing country; must designate a National Authority that will endorse country submission; and must submit project or programme proposals through a National Implementing Entity (NIE) or Multi-lateral Implementing Entity (MIE) such as UNDP, World Bank, FAO.

The Adaptation Fund has a direct access modality, which means that an accredited national institution manages granted funds and has responsibility for project implementation, monitoring and evaluation. An accredited national institution is called a National Implementing Entity (NIE). The Bank of Industry (BoI) has been proposed as Nigeria’s NIE and its application is under consideration by the Fund’s Accreditation Panel.

To become a NIE, an institution must meet the fiduciary risk management standards set by the AFB and be endorsed by the country’s Designated Authority (DA). The DA in Nigeria is the Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment. The fiduciary risk management standards cover three areas: financial management and integrity, institutional capacity and transparency and self-investigative powers