Issues and challenges of decaying urban water infrastructure in Nigeria

A reconnaissance survey of some public water utilities (PWUs) in Nigeria reveals with dismay their increasingly poor working conditions due to frequent breakdowns; ageing and poor asset management of these urban water infrastructure (UWI). Several attempts made in the past to rehabilitate these UWI have not positively changed their level of deteriorations. Presently, their overall assessment grade is best described as fairly poor as most of these assets have only 10 -35% of their expected useful life remaining, low capacity utilization and assets require a significant level of maintenance. Consequently, their service delivery and coverage has been so poor across the country resulting in various environmental and socio-economical problems which have been of great concern. Hence this paper is focused at highlighting and discussing the issues and challenges of these decaying water assets in PWUs in Nigeria.