World Bank Research Articles

Traffic Signal Controller System and Vehicle Count-Based Road Congestion Detection

Abstract: Traffic congestion is one of the major modern-day crisis in every big city in the world. Recent study of World Bank has shown that average vehicle speed has been reduced from 21 km to 7 km per hour in the last 10 years in Dhaka. Inter metropolitan area studies suggest that traffic congestion reduces regional competitiveness and redistributes economic activity by slowing growth in county gross output or slowing metropolitan area employment growth. As more and more vehicles are commissioning in an already congested traffic system, there is an urgent need for a whole new traffic control system using advanced technologies to utilize the already existent infrastructures to its full extent. Since building new roads, flyovers, elevated expressway etc. needs extensive planning, huge capital and lots of time; focus should be directed upon availing existing infrastructures more efficiently and diligently. Previously different techniques had been proposed, such as infra-red light sensor, induction loop etc. to acquire traffic date which had their fair share of demerits. In recent years, image processing has shown promising outcomes in acquiring real time traffic information using CCTV footage installed along the traffic light. Different approaches have been proposed to glean traffic data. Some of them count total number of pixels , some of the work calculate number of vehicles .These methods have shown promising results in collecting traffic data.

Artisanal gold mining in guinea and security concerns

One of the continents richest in gold reserves is Africa. According to the World Bank, about 20 % of gold in African countries is still mined using artisanal methods. There is no officially recognized, generally accepted definition of artisanal small-scale gold mining. In essence, artisanal or small-scale gold mining is a labor-intensive, financially and technologically underdeveloped gold mining activity. Artisanal gold mining can be either informal, illegal, without state permission, or formal (legalized, streamlined). In the modern world, artisanal mining in African countries is experiencing rapid growth after their liberation from colonial oppression. The paper examines the environmental costs or ecological footprint of artisanal gold mining, such as: mercury intoxication of ecosystems, gold miners and local populations; deforestation, destruction of ecosystems; pollution of watercourses; industrial injuries and occupational diseases of gold miners; crime and social instability. Practical recommendations for improving safety are given.

National culture, religiosity, and audited financial statements of small-scale MNCs

Purpose The research objective starts from the argument that small-scale multinational corporations’ (SMNCs’) managerial behavior toward auditing decisions is influenced by their personal value, especially when the auditing process is not mandatory. This study aims to examine how national culture-religiosity affects that decision. The authors further examine how foreign-owned MNCs might behave differently from local MNCs, although the host country’s cultural-religiosity value might influence that decision. Design/methodology/approach This study obtains the data from three sources: Hofstede Framework, Pew Research Center and World Bank Enterprise Survey in cross-sectional mode. The final sample consists of 8,590 SMNCs from 45 countries as the observations. This study uses robust regression analysis to test the effects of culture, religiosity and controlling shareholders on the audited financial statements decision. Findings The regression results support the hypothesis, whereas cultural-religiosity values are associated with the audited financial report. The findings confirm stakeholder theory and institutional theory. Originality/value This study fills a gap in the literature by providing empirical evidence on the cultural and religiosity effects on the accounting decision of SMNCs. The results can be used as the foundation for future research related to MNCs’ managerial behavior toward accounting policies, especially with the psychosocial factors.

Blood is Thicker than Water: A Genealogy of Water in Nation-State Building

This work explores the multifaceted relationship between India and Pakistan, starting with India’s very recent decision to renegotiate the terms of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 between the two countries. This treaty, considered to be a time-tested hallmark of peace on the Indian subcontinent, is particularly heralded by mediators like the World Bank. This desire for peace is confronted with the reality of border skirmishes and conflicts over Kashmir, a state through which the Indus River flows. Accordingly, I interrogate the interactions between various political actors over the Indus Waters themselves, specifically focusing on partition and the subsequent period that led up to the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty. This piece seeks to understand the role of nature in cohering international, national and subnational identity. Specifically, I focus on the two countries’ historical conflicts over water as well as sovereign claims to water in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, which are regions that must balance domestic priorities with the looming national interests of India and Pakistan. By linking water to the economic, cultural, and social language that comprises political imagination and identity, I hope to reveal new insights about how the relationship between nature and humanity has transformed from mutual cooperation to one of commodification and displacement.

Analysis of Service Level of Trans Metro Pasundan Bandung Raya Corridor 2 Based on Importance Performance Analysis and Customer Satisfaction Index

Trans Metro Pasundan is an integrated highway bus system serving the Greater Bandung metropolitan area, West Java. This service is a program from the Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia through the Directorate General of Land Transportation, and Bandung is the eighth service after Makassar and Banyumas in the Bus Friends Buy the Service (BTS) service purchasing program. The purpose of this study is to assess the operational performance and user satisfaction of the Trans Metro Pasundan Corridor 2 Greater Bandung transportation system, as well as to identify service conditions based on World Bank standards and Ministerial Regulation No. 29 of 2015. A sample of 105 respondents was selected from a population of 369,320 Trans Metro Pasundan Corridor 2 passengers using the Slovin's formula. The research findings indicate that the load factor and travel time meet the standards, although some load factors do not meet the criteria. Priorities for improving passenger satisfaction include providing facilities at shelters/stops, availability of polls, among others. The Customer Satisfaction Index of 73.078 suggests that passengers are "Satisfied" with the service performance.

Sustainable entrepreneurship: A catalyst for unemployment reduction and economic growth in Anglophone and Francophone countries

AbstractThe purpose of the study is in two fold. First, the study examines the impact of language, history, and culture in Anglophone and Francophone countries on the rate of unemployment and economic growth. Second, the study explores the extent to which sustainable entrepreneurship influences the rate of unemployment, and economic growth in Anglophone and Francophone (A&F) countries. The study employed a descriptive and quantitative research design where a longitudinal data were sourced from the World Development Indicators and World Bank Entrepreneurship databases on 12 and 9 Francophone and Anglophone countries respectively. The random effect and the generalized method of moments (GMM) regression models were employed to attain the objectives of the study. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant negative effect of sustainable entrepreneurship on unemployment; sustainable entrepreneurship has a positive significant effect on economic growth; and also, history and culture were found to have a significant impact on unemployment reduction and economic growth. However, language was found to have an insignificant influence between A&F countries suggesting that the ability of sustainable entrepreneurship to minimize the rate of unemployment and boost economic growth is generic irrespective of linguistic factors.

Household Air Pollution Interventions to Improve Health in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: An Official American Thoracic Society Research Statement.

Background: An estimated 3 billion people, largely in low- and middle-income countries, rely on unclean fuels for cooking, heating, and lighting to meet household energy needs. The resulting exposure to household air pollution (HAP) is a leading cause of pneumonia, chronic lung disease, and other adverse health effects. In the last decade, randomized controlled trials of clean cooking interventions to reduce HAP have been conducted. We aim to provide guidance on how to interpret the findings of these trials and how they should inform policy makers and practitioners.Methods: We assembled a multidisciplinary working group of international researchers, public health practitioners, and policymakers with expertise in household air pollution from within academia, the American Thoracic Society, funders, nongovernmental organizations, and global organizations, including the World Bank and the World Health Organization. We performed a literature search, convened four sessions via web conference, and developed consensus conclusions and recommendations via the Delphi method.Results: The committee reached consensus on 14 conclusions and recommendations. Although some trials using cleaner-burning biomass stoves or cleaner-cooking fuels have reduced HAP exposure, the committee was divided (with 55% saying no and 45% saying yes) on whether the studied interventions improved measured health outcomes.Conclusions: HAP is associated with adverse health effects in observational studies. However, it remains unclear which household energy interventions reduce exposure, improve health, can be scaled, and are sustainable. Researchers should engage with policy makers and practitioners working to scale cleaner energy solutions to understand and address their information needs.

Assessing the Institutional- and Project-Level Determinants of Corruption in Infrastructure Projects: Evidence from World Bank–Funded Projects

Assessing the Institutional- and Project-Level Determinants of Corruption in Infrastructure Projects: Evidence from World Bank–Funded Projects

Policy lessons from Okun’s law for African countries

ABSTRACT This article explores the intricate relationship between economic growth and unemployment across multiple African countries, with a focus on estimating the Okun’s coefficient. Data from the International Labour Office (ILO) and the World Bank’s databases for 39 African nations were utilised. Two distinct methodological approaches, first differences and the Hodrick-Prescott (HP) filter, were employed to assess result robustness. Findings reveal that in most African countries, the link between GDP growth and unemployment is weak or non-existent, unlike advanced economies. This divergence underscores unique economic structures and labour dynamics in African nations, necessitating tailored approaches to address unemployment. The study also investigates factors contributing to Okun’s coefficient variability in Africa, emphasising structural, demographic, and economic influences. Demographic trends, domestic market competition, and the rule of law are identified as key determinants. Consequently, policymakers are urged to prioritise measures targeting these factors to enhance job creation and economic stability. Additionally, the study highlights the role of growth volatility, particularly in Morocco, emphasising the need for policies to stabilise economic growth and mitigate unemployment fluctuations.

A scoping review of road traffic data systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Background: Road traffic injury is a major global health risk, however, under-reporting of road traffic crashes data and the use of different reporting systems have made it difficult to compare data across countries. Aim: To examine published and grey literature for better understanding of available health and non-health road traffic data systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) countries. Methods: We conducted a systematic search of databases to identify studies reporting road traffic data systems in the EMR countries between 2011 and January 2022. We also searched grey literature on the websites of government, WHO, World Bank, UNICEF, regional economic commissions and other relevant institutions. We assembled the data in Microsoft Excel and presented the counts of data sources, data types and data quality. Results: We included 84 of 2238 studies accessed in this review. One-third of the publications was from the Islamic Republic of Iran while 10% was from Pakistan. Police databases were the primary sources of data in most of the studies (79%) while hospital and death registration systems together accounted for one-quarter of the databases. The most common indicators reported in the publications were deaths (61%), crashes (48%) and injuries (35%). Only 40% of the studies disaggregated their analyses by gender and 44% by age. No papers identified permanently linked data sources, although more than a quarter of the papers reviewed used some form of modelling or data mining. Conclusion: This scoping review highlights an over-reliance on police data, poor quality traffic data systems, and multiple stakeholders collecting similar data, leading to redundancy. EMR countries need to establish robust road safety data systems to provide data for relevant policies and interventions

Resolving entrepreneurial liabilities in African businesses: does gender diversity of ownership team matter?

ABSTRACT This study explores the role of gender diversity in enterprise ownership teams (EOTs) in addressing size and age (entrepreneurial) liabilities in African businesses. Using a contingency framework with organizational ecology theory as its base, gender diversity in EOTs is argued as a strategic action small businesses can use to ameliorate the constraints imposed by the entrepreneurial liabilities of newness and smallness. These hypotheses are tested using World Bank enterprise surveys in Africa across multiple industries. The study finds that gender diversity in EOTs presents small businesses with a competitive advantage to drive their performance. Gender diverse EOTs is found to be useful in relieving the constraints imposed by liability of size but not the liability age. The study contributes to the integrativists perspective of management by integrating the deterministic effects of business age as well as size and the voluntaristic effects of gender diversity using a contingency framework.

The General Movement Optimality Score-Revised (GMOS-R) with Socioeconomically Stratified Percentile Ranks

Background: The general movement optimality score (GMOS) quantifies the details of general movements (GMs). We recently conducted psychometric analyses of the GMOS and developed a revised scoresheet. Consequently, the GMOS-Revised (GMOS-R) instrument necessitated validation using new percentile ranks. This study aimed to provide these percentile ranks for the GMOS-R and to investigate whether sex, preterm birth, or the infant’s country of birth and residence affected the GMOS-R distribution. Methods: We applied the GMOS-R to an international sample of 1983 infants (32% female, 44% male, and 24% not disclosed), assessed in the extremely and very preterm period (10%), moderate (12%) and late (22%) preterm periods, at term (25%), and post-term age (31%). Data were grouped according to the World Bank’s classification into lower- and upper-middle-income countries (LMICs and UMICs; 26%) or high-income countries (HICs; 74%), respectively. Results: We found that sex and preterm or term birth did not affect either GM classification or the GMOS-R, but the country of residence did. A lower median GMOS-R for infants with normal or poor-repertoire GMs from LMICs and UMICs compared with HICs suggests the use of specific percentile ranks for LMICs and UMICs vs. HICs. Conclusion: For clinical and scientific use, we provide a freely available GMOS-R scoring sheet, with percentile ranks reflecting socioeconomic stratification.

Land Titling and Microcredit in Cambodia: Examining the Reality of Hernando de Soto’s ‘Three Steps to Heaven’

Starting with the work of Hernando de Soto in the 1980s, the role of land tenure soon attracted the attention of the international development community as a neoliberal-oriented theory of change rooted in the possession and use of private individual land titles by the poor. One of the central mechanisms proposed by de Soto was a three-step process that involves the poor (1) “securing” their tenure with land titles, (2) using their newly acquired land titles as collateral to leverage large amounts of microcredit to be used to establish a functioning microenterprise, and then (3) escaping from their poverty due to the jobs and income associated with founding and running a microenterprise. This paper explores what I call de Soto’s “three steps to heaven” theory of change, a concept that was taken on board with gusto by leading Western governments and virtually all of the main international development institutions, particularly the World Bank. I argue that Cambodia provides the ideal setting for evaluating de Soto’s concept because, since around 2020, it has possessed the largest microcredit sector in the world (on a per capita basis), thanks largely to the obligatory use of land titles as the collateral required to obtain microcredit. While the first two of de Soto’s “three steps to heaven” have been realized, the evidence shows that the assumptions related to step three have proved to be extremely problematic: the ubiquity of microcredit that was achieved since the early 2010s via steps one and two has not, in general, improved the lives and communities of Cambodia’s poor through accelerated microenterprise development. It appears, instead, to have contributed to deeper poverty, insecurity, vulnerability and inequality. I conclude that de Soto’s “three steps to heaven” theory reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the real institutional drivers of sustainable local economic development and poverty reduction.

Effects of methane emissions on multiple myeloma-related mortality rates: A World Health Organization perspective.

In this research, it was aimed to evaluate effects of methane emissions on multiple myeloma related mortality rates. Two countries in Europe (Germany and Netherlands) and 1 country for each region (Turkey, USA, Brazil, Egypt, and Australia) were selected within The World Health Organization Database. Multiple myeloma mortality rates of countries between 2009 and 2019 were used as dependent variable of the research. Methane emission level and agriculture methane levels of countries were used as independent variables from The World Bank Database. Current health expenditure and healthy life expectancy were used as controlling variables. Multiple myeloma-related mortality rate was the highest in the USA, followed by Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Australia, Netherlands, and Egypt. Difference analysis results were significant (P < .05). Methane and agriculture methane emissions were the highest in the USA. Multiple myeloma mortality was positively correlated with methane emissions (R = 0.504; P < .01), agricultural methane emissions (R = 0.705; P < .01), and current health expenditure (R = 0.528; P < .01). According to year and country controlled correlation analysis results, multiple myeloma mortality (MMM) was positively correlated with methane emissions (R = 0.889; P < .01), agricultural methane emissions (R = 0.495; P < .01), and current health expenditure (R = 0.704; P < .01). Methane emission (B = 0.01; P < .05), Germany (B = 9010.81; P < .01), the USA (B = 26516.77; P < .01), and Brazil (B = 4886.14; P < .01) had significant effect on MMM. Nonagricultural methane production has an increasing effect on MMM. Therefore, by looking at the differences between agricultural methane emissions and general methane emissions, studies can be conducted that allow for more effective global comparisons.

The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Unemployment and Future Work

The rapid development of artificial intelligence should also affect the world market. Unemployment is ex- pected to increase as artificial intelligence can perform tasks performed by humans in many different sectors. The eight- year study (2010-2017) investigates the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on unemployment in 26 developed and devel- oping countries. More precisely, this study uses data analysis techniques to investigate how the use of artificial intelligence technology affects unemployment in 26 different sectors. The results of a data study compiling World Bank and OECD data show a positive relationship between advances in artificial intelligence and unemployment. The advancement of artificial intelligence is determined by patent information. Due to the differences in artificial intelligence development between the countries studied, artificial intelligence development has been shown to have a positive impact on the unemployment rate in the studied countries. Additionally, compared to younger workers, older workers with higher education may have less impact on employment due to improved skills. Finally, re- search and development (R&amp;D) spending varies widely across countries, making it difficult to aggregate. Therefore, this study does not show the relationship between the share of R&amp;D expenditures in GDP and how artificial intelligence affects unemployment. One of the most talked about topics in the public today is intelligence. Many people associate this with changes in the economy, especially changes in the economy that are generally expected to cause high unemployment. As artificial intelligence becomes more widespread, the public tends to predict which professions will become obsolete and eventually disappear. The healthcare sector is one of the most challenged sectors outside of production due to various medi- cal treatment studies. There are other scientists who disagree with this bad proposition. They argue that the emergence of artificial intelligence will create new jobs, just like all previous economic revolutions. Keywords-- Artificial Intelligence, Unemployment, Future Work, Impact, Automation, Job Displacement, Skills Gap, Job Creation, Manufacturing, Retail, Healthcare, Reskilling, Upskilling, Policy, Regulation, Mitigation Strategies, Labor Market, Education, Training, and Economic Impact.

Palliative care needs of people and/or their families with serious and/or chronic health conditions in low- or middle-income country (LMIC) humanitarian settings—a systematic scoping review protocol

BackgroundPalliative care in low- or middle-income country (LMIC) humanitarian settings is a new area, experiencing a degree of increased momentum over recent years. The review contributes to this growing body of knowledge, in addition to identifying gaps for future research. The overall aim is to systematically explore the evidence on palliative care needs of patients and/or their families in LMIC humanitarian settings.MethodsArksey and O’Malley’s (Int J Soc Res Methodol. 8:19-32, 2005) scoping review framework forms the basis of the study design, following further guidance from Levac et al. (Implement Sci 5:1-9, 2010), the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Peters et al. (JBI Reviewer’s Manual JBI: 406-452, 2020), and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) from Tricco et al. (Ann Intern Med 169:467-73, 2018). This incorporates a five-step approach and the population, concept, and context (PCC) framework. Using already identified key words/terms, searches for both published research and gray literature from January 2012 to October 2022 will be undertaken using databases (likely to include Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, Scopus, Applied Social Science Index and s (ASSIA), Web of Science, Policy Commons, JSTOR, Library Network International Monetary Fund and World Bank, Google Advanced Search, and Google Scholar) in addition to selected pre-print sites and websites. Data selection will be undertaken based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria and will be reviewed at each stage by two reviewers, with a third to resolve any differences. Extracted data will be charted in a table. Ethical approval is not required for this review.DiscussionFindings will be presented in tables and diagrams/charts, followed by a narrative description. The review will run from late October 2022 to early 2023. This is the first systematic scoping review specifically exploring the palliative care needs of patients and/or their family, in LMIC humanitarian settings. The paper from the review findings will be submitted for publication in 2023.

Bank performance and financial stability during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons from the MENA region

PurposeThis study investigates the role of market concentration and efficiency in banking system stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. We empirically test the hypothesis that market concentration and efficiency are significant determinants of bank performance and stability during the time of crises, using a sample of 575 banks in 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).Design/methodology/approachThe main sources of bank data are the BankScope and BankFocus (Bureau van Dijk) databases, World Bank development indicators, and official websites of banks in MENA countries. This study combined descriptive and analytical approaches. We utilize a panel dataset and adopt panel data econometric techniques such as fixed/random effects and the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator.FindingsThe results reveal that market concentration negatively affects bank profitability, whereas improved efficiency further enhances bank performance and contributes to the banking sector’s overall stability. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that during the COVID-19 pandemic, bank stability strongly depended on the level of market concentration, but not on bank efficiency. However, more efficient banks are more profitable and stable if the banking institutions are Islamic. Similarly, Islamic banks with the same level of efficiency demonstrated better overall financial performance during the pandemic than their conventional peers did.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is related to the period of COVID-19 pandemic that was covered in this paper (2020–2021). Therefore, further investigation of the COVID-19 effects on bank profitability and risk will require an extended period of the pandemic crisis, including 2022.Practical implicationsThis study provides information that will enable bank managers and policymakers in MENA countries to assess the growing impact of market concentration and efficiency on the banking sector stability. It also helps them in formulating suitable strategies to mitigate the adverse consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our recommendations are useful guides for policymakers and regulators in countries where Islamic and conventional banking systems co-exist and compete, based on different business models and risk management practices.Originality/valueThe authors contribute to the banking stability literature by investigating the role of market concentration and efficiency as the main determinants of bank performance and stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is the first to analyze banking sector stability in the MENA region, using both individual and risk-adjusted aggregated performance measures.

Comparing Randomized Controlled Trials of Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury in Lower to Middle Income Countries Versus High Income Countries.

Outcomes from traumatic brain injury (TBI) including death differ significantly between high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Little is known, however, about differences in TBI research across the globe. The objective of this article was to examine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of moderate-to-severe TBI in high-income countries (HICs) compared with low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), as defined by the World Bank income per capita cutoff of $13,205 US dollars. A systematic review was conducted for articles published in the English language to December 2022 inclusive using MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, EMBASE, and PsycINFO in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Inclusion criteria: (1) human participants with a mean age of ≥18 years; (2) ≥50% of the sample had moderate to severe TBI; and (3) the study design was a RCT. Data extracted included author, year, country, sample size, primary focus (medical/surgical management or rehabilitation), injury etiology, time post-injury, and indicator(s) used to define TBI severity. There were 662 RCTs (published 1978-2022) that met inclusion criteria comprising 91,946 participants. There were 48 countries represented: 30 HICs accounting for 451 RCTs (68.1%) and 18 LMICs accounting for 211 RCTs (31.9%). The 62.6% of RCTs from LMICs were conducted in the acute phase post-injury (≤1 month) compared with 42.1% of RCTs from HICs. Of RCTs from LMICs, 92.4% focused on medical/surgical management compared with 52.5% from HICs. Since 2016, more RCTs have been conducted in LMICs than in HICs, indicating the importance of better understanding this pattern of research output.

Carbon finance and funding for forest sector climate solutions: a review and synthesis of the principles, policies, and practices

The question of funding necessary climate actions, including those in the forest sector, to drastically reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and global warming, is important to both national governments and international agencies. The objective of this paper is to address this question by reviewing and synthesizing the economic principles associated with reducing GHG emissions, the pricing mechanisms used to achieve that goal, and the diverse practices of climate finance. Included in the carbon pricing mechanisms and practices are carbon tax, compliance and voluntary emission trading, internal pricing, and funding via issuing bonds or mobilizing public budgetary resources. Then, it proceeds to describe the roles that public and private organizations can play and have played in supporting emission reduction and removal, which serves as a vital backdrop for examining current states and relative costs of forest sector initiatives. Overall, as reported by the World Bank, only about 23% of global GHG emissions are subject to any explicit price, and 75% of the emissions that are subject to a price are charged less than $10 per tCO2e. Market-based forest finance and international support for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation have accounted for a small fraction of the total spent on climate mitigation and adaptation. Further, the more recent developments in carbon pricing and funding remain slow and disappointing. Without the right scale of green finance at the right time, however, it will be difficult to achieve the needed energy and economic transformation.

Water Resources, Pollution, Integrated Management and Practices in Nigeria – An Overview

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of Nigeria’s water landscape, focusing on its abundant surface and underground water sources and the agencies responsible for water resources development and management. Findings reveals that the country boasts vast freshwater reserves, encompassing surface and groundwater, intricate river drainage systems, numerous dams, and managed aquifer formations, primarily overseen by River Basin Development Authorities. Despite these resources, Nigeria faces severe pollution challenges, especially in the Niger Delta, resulting from oil-related activities and causing environmental degradation, health crises, and enduring ecosystem consequences. Approximately 13 million barrels of oil spills have adversely impacted coastal wetlands, mangroves, and agricultural lands. Elevated levels of heavy metal pollution, exceeding recommended guidelines, pose significant threats to public health, emphasizing the lasting impact of persistent oil spillage on fishery production and aquatic organisms. River Basin Development Authorities have made substantial contributions, challenges persist in catchment management and the indiscriminate disposal of hazardous substances. The absence of effective environmental policies necessitates urgent, coordinated action from federal and state governments. Nigeria must prioritize integrated water management practices to strike a delicate balance between resource utilization and preservation for the benefit of current and future generations. This manuscript relies on secondary sources, utilizing key search terms such as “water resources in Nigeria,” “water pollution in Nigeria,” “water supply and demand in Nigeria,” “water management in Nigeria,” and “integrated water practices in Nigeria.” Data were sourced from reputable institutions, including the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, The World Bank, United Nations Environmental Protection (UNEP), USAID’s Sustainable Water Partnership, and various scientific publications, ensuring the reliability of the presented data.