History

WaterAid began development activities in Nigeria in 1995 with the Etche Project in River State.

In 1996, the organisation moved to Benue State to manage the Department for International Development (DFID) Water and Sanitation Project in Oju Local Government Area.

WaterAid is currently working in three other Local Government Areas in Benue state, namely Obi, Vandeikya and Logo, supporting the Water and Sanitation Units of the LGA to deliver water and sanitation services to the poor.

In 2000 WaterAid expanded its activities to Plateau and Bauchi states based on assessment that identified Bauchi and Plateau had high levels of poverty and low access to safe water supplies and sanitation. In these two regions WaterAid works in partnership with NGOs while maintaining close relationship with the state governments.

A new cooperation agreement, under the FGN/UNICEF/DFID Integrated Growth and Development Programme (IGDP), will see WaterAid Nigeria expanding its work to current DFID states, namely Benue, Ekiti, Enugu and Jigawa, in 2004. The IGDP budget is $754,000 USD. UNICEF is contributing $614,000 USD while WaterAid is to provide the balance of $140,000 USD.

WaterAid Nigeria has concluded negotiations of an in country Programme Partnership Agreement (PPA) with DFID Nigeria as an appendix to the PPA signed between WaterAid UK and the Civil Society Department of DFID in the UK. The WaterAid Nigeria PPA budget is 630,000 GBP over a three-year project cycle.