Hand pump maintenance training for rural water supply sustainability in Nigeria

One of the major policy thrusts of the Federal Government of Nigeria is the drive to alleviate poverty. Poverty alleviation will not happen until there is significant improvement in access to water supply and sanitation, education, health care delivery, reliable electric power supply, affordable food for all etc, in summary a conducive environment to sustain a balanced development nationwide. This paper’s focus is on hand pump maintenance training as one of the key components to safeguard water supply to Nigeria rural communities. 430 Water Supply officers from Local Government Areas (LGA) received training on Installation and Maintenance procedures for India Mark III and Afridev deep well handpumps. The trainees are maintenance staff in their local governments and they will complement hand pump maintenance trainings in their areas under the Federal Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme (FRWSSP). The trainees will also help ensure that future rural water supply facilities expansion will remain serviceable. Virtually all the trainees have hands on experience during the practical sessions (about 70% of the two-day training, the rest being classroom instructions and demonstrations) Similar trainings will also be held at the community level nationwide. The National Water Resources Institute, Kaduna is implementing the series of training courses envisaged in the FRWSSP.