Africa—including Nigeria—is confronted with a staggering financing requirement of between $45 billion and $50 billion annually to achieve universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation under the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 framework.
However, fresh assessments compiled by the United Nations, African Union, World Bank, and the UN Economic Commission for Africa reveal that actual investments remain far below need, ranging from $10 billion to $19 billion each year. This leaves a persistent annual shortfall exceeding $30 billion, a gap experts warn is widening rather than narrowing.
The implications are severe: despite ongoing initiatives, the continent’s water and sanitation crisis is increasingly being viewed not just as a humanitarian issue but as a binding constraint on economic transformation.
Hundreds of Millions Still Without Safe Water and Sanitation
Across Africa, more than 400 million people still lack access to safe drinking water, while over 700 million people live without safely managed sanitation services.
Recent figures show that in 2023:
- Only 81% of Africans had access to safe drinking water
- Just 59% had access to safely managed sanitation
These deficits continue to expose millions to preventable diseases, reduce productivity, and deepen inequality across rural and urban communities.
“Not Just a Social Concern”—Experts Warn of Economic Consequences
At the 2026 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group, the Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, warned that the crisis is now structurally undermining economic development across the continent.
“Underinvestment in water is not only a social concern but a structural economic constraint,” Gatete said.
He highlighted a stark mismatch between risk exposure and financing levels, noting that water-related projects receive less than three percent of global climate finance, despite increasing floods, droughts, and water insecurity linked to climate change.
“This imbalance has created a growing disconnect between the scale of the risk and the scale of investment,” he said.
Gatete argued that African governments must rethink water infrastructure not as a welfare service, but as an economic foundation capable of driving industrial output, agriculture, and energy systems.
“Water should not be seen only as a utility to be delivered, but as the bloodstream of our economies,” he added.
Continental and National Responses Still Falling Short
In response to the crisis, African institutions have launched several financing frameworks. The African Union introduced the Africa Water Investment Action Plan at COP28 in 2023, designed to accelerate funding for water security and sanitation systems.
Similarly, the African Water Facility is targeting an additional $7 billion in investments across 50 urban sanitation projects. Yet implementation challenges, weak domestic financing, and institutional bottlenecks continue to slow progress in many countries, including Nigeria.
In Nigeria, budgetary allocations have fluctuated sharply. The Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation received ₦296.64 billion in 2024 (about $395 million), but this figure dropped by nearly half to ₦146.78 billion in 2025, raising concerns about policy consistency and sustainability.
Major Projects Underway, but Impact Still Limited
Nigeria has ongoing initiatives such as the Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (SURWASH) Programme and the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) across 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
However, implementation remains slow. The World Bank’s $700 million SURWASH programme, intended to provide water access to six million Nigerians and sanitation services to 1.4 million people between 2022 and 2027, had disbursed only $93.59 million by May last year—around 14% of total funding.
The project was also rated “moderately unsatisfactory”, with just 58,585 beneficiaries reached compared to a target exceeding six million.
Despite these setbacks, the federal government reports that over 6,700 water schemes have been developed nationwide under ongoing interventions.
Other African Countries Show Mixed Progress
Across the continent, progress varies widely:
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Ghana allocated about GHS822 million (~$69 million) to water and sanitation in 2023, though nearly 95% of funding came from external partners, underscoring heavy donor dependence. The country requires an estimated $1.7 billion annually to meet SDG targets.
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Morocco has emerged as a regional leader, committing about MAD48 billion (~$5.33 billion) for wastewater projects between 2020 and 2024, with a further MAD56 billion programme launched in 2025.
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Egypt has implemented water and sanitation projects worth approximately EGP726 billion (~$14.9 billion), including more than 5,100 projects under execution or completion, driven partly by the “Decent Life Initiative.”
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South Africa allocated R134.9 billion for water infrastructure between 2024 and 2027 and significantly improved spending efficiency, reducing under-expenditure from 14.3% in 2021/22 to just 0.2% in 2023/24.
Mounting Warning: A Macroeconomic Risk, Not Just Infrastructure Gap
Development finance institutions increasingly caution that Africa’s sanitation and water deficit is evolving into a broader macroeconomic risk. The shortage threatens food security, industrial productivity, healthcare systems, and education outcomes simultaneously.
Experts argue that without sustained investment, the continent risks locking itself into cycles of poor health, low productivity, and constrained growth.
Reframing Water as Economic Infrastructure
Gatete reiterated that Africa must fundamentally rethink how water is valued in economic planning and investment decisions.
He described water as central not only to survival but to development systems across sectors:
“Water should not be seen only as a utility to be delivered, but as the bloodstream of our economies.”
He further stressed its role in unlocking the blue economy, expanding jobs, strengthening resilience, and supporting long-term industrialization across the continent.