In a short while, precisely on Thursday, March 22, 2018, it will be yet another World Water Day- a day set aside to focus attention on the importance of clean water and sanitation. Nigeria will ‘heartily’ mark the day as usual even though clean water and sanitation continue to elude us. This should be worrisome granted that President Muhamadu Buhari joined other world leaders at the United Nations in New York on September 25, 2015, to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development- a new agenda with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Goal 6 of the agenda (clean water and sanitation) is of particular significance to the welfare of man that it cannot be ignored. Water is much more important than crude oil over which we vent our spleen daily in Nigeria. There is no agitation yet over the control of water because it is ‘available’ everywhere, though not in the quantity and quality desired. However, it is important to be watchful as we could run out of water long before we run out of oil.
In the context of the SDGs, it is expected that by the year 2030, there should be an improvement in water quality such that every person should have access to equitable safe and affordable drinking water; substantial efficiency in the use of water across all sectors; and implementation of integrated water resources management at all levels. These are laudable objectives given that water scarcity is estimated to affect more than 40 percent of the global population. The issue is not the ability to uphold the letter of these objectives, but the punctuation of the spirit thereof.
As competition for water rises, it is becoming evident that there had not been a sustainable collective effort at attaining efficient use of water. Globally, individuals and organizations are now beginning to recognize water as an economic commodity whose marginal cost is rising and are therefore initiating water stewardship measures to minimize its use. Some of the initiatives involve discharging zero wastewater and recycling water for re-use. Nigeria is not exempted from water stewardship and both government and corporate bodies are also devising means aimed at efficient water use. At the federal level for instance, there is the Water Resources Master Plan which was designed for the period (1995 to 2015); revised in 2013to take effect from 2016 and to fully deliver clean water and sanitation by 2030. In-spite of these initiatives, it is evident that not much has been achieved in terms of water sufficiency and quality. Every year, billions of Naira is budgeted and spent on water-related matters and the majority of Nigerians still lack water in both urban and rural areas. The water crises will continue as long as wrong water management decisions are made.
The time has become auspicious, therefore, to advance an agenda to mitigate the water crises we face in Nigeria and all relevant stakeholders are called upon to enlist in the crusade. It is in this context that Water Accounting (WA) is hereby being advocated. WA is an important area in the management of water resources that has not received any attention in Nigeria. WA, though a closed book in Nigeria, is not novel. Many countries including Australia, USA, India, and Botswana are making great strides in implementing water accounting as a tool for integrated water resources management and sustainable development. Improving water management involves a lot of policy issues and accounting lies at the heart of them all. How, for instance, would it be possible to deal with issues in a Water Resources Master Plan without an accounting framework in place?
The System-Wide Initiative for Water Management (SWIM) describes water accounting as ‘a procedure for analyzing the uses, depletion, and productivity of water.” In essence, WA is a means of communicating to stakeholders the current status and future trends in terms of how water is being extracted, managed, and used and at what cost to the citizens. The analysis of water resource is possible at all levels of use- macro; mezzo; and micro. A firm understanding and application of WA is important in determining the consequences on all stakeholders of water uses and management
As a country, WA will enable us to identify, recognize, quantify, report, assure and publish information about water at the public and private sector levels. Organizations that use water on a large scale in Nigeria currently treat it as a free raw material. No, it is a collective asset. Such organizations should begin to compile data that would enable them to prepare WA. When government and organizations begin to account for water resources and use, the idea of recycling water will begin to dawn on them and water conservation will become a priority. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Universities should begin to collaborate to put in place a framework for WA in Nigeria. It will do us a lot of good.
Francis Iyoha
