Abstract
Water infrastructure development is key to attaining sustainable development, especially for water supply, sanitation and health, agricultural development, and energy production. However, sub-Saharan African countries face specific challenges around infrastructure financing, systemic and repeated malfunctioning, and decentralised infrastructure types. Using Nigeria as a case, this article aims to analyse historical water infrastructure development in Nigeria with a specific focus on dams and standpipes. Seven themes are discussed: infrastructure divisions; deprioritising water supply; political infrastructures; infrastructure failure and sustainability; infrastructure classification and typologies; optimal use of water resources and infrastructure; and a commentary on the future of water infrastructure development. The article concludes with policy and research suggestions for policymakers and other relevant stakeholders.
Highlights
Development in Nigeria: Trend, Size, There is a global consensus that water infrastructure development is key to attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs) [1,2,3,4,5]
Secondary data used in this paper comes from Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Water Resources and the International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD)
Dams and reservoir information contained in the Nigerian compendium of dams, the 1995 and 2014 national water resources masterplan were accessed, with 192 dams identified containing available data from 1923 to 2007 for analysis
Summary
Development in Nigeria: Trend, Size, There is a global consensus that water infrastructure development is key to attaining the sustainable development goals (SDGs) [1,2,3,4,5]. Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa more broadly, have specific needs in water supply, sanitation and health, agricultural development, and energy production [8,9,10,11]. The historical dimension to these issues in Nigeria [14,15], and the contributions made by international and multilateral organisations in Nigeria’s water infrastructure development through financing, policy and technology further complicates these issues [16,17]. Combining this history with Nigeria’s external relations places water infrastructure development within broader water governance and political governance frames
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