Engineer Suleiman Hussein Adamu is a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (FNSE), Member of the American Society of Engineers (MASCE) and also Council Member of both Council of Registered Engineers of Nigeria (COREN) and Association of Consulting Engineers of Nigeria (ACEN). He graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University in 1984 and was the winner of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) prize for the best final year student in Civil Engineering, 1984. He bagged his Master’s Degree in Project Management from University of Reading, UK in 2004.
Since his appointment as the Honourable Minister for Water Resources in 2015, he has made tremendous contribution to the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector in Nigeria which has contributed to increased access brought about by mustering high political will on the part of the federal government to improve WASH outcomes in Nigeria.
Under his able leadership, the federal government of Nigeria declared a state of emergency in the WASH sector in 2018 and approved a 13-year National WASH Action Plan (NAP), of which 18-month was declared an emergency phase. The declaration of a state of emergency was followed by three years of progressive commitment to enabling policies and programmes towards achieving the goal of SDG 6.
Also, in response to the challenges of rural WASH, the Minister approved the development of the Partnership for Expanded WASH (PEWASH) policy 2016-2030. The PEWASH articulated the government’s plans to reach 100% coverage for WASH services in rural areas. Furthermore, a national sanitation road map 2025 has been developed and is operational, providing a guide towards achieving an open defecation free country.
Through these frameworks, the Honourable Minister contributed immensely to improved coordination of sector actors through the National Task Group on Sanitation, facilitated the organization of the CLTS Conference, revitalized of the Task Group on Water quality, set up the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Sanitation to facilitate
high level engagements between relevant ministries, improved engagement with development partners and development of draft national monitoring framework.
In addition, the government, through the FMWR, under his leadership, has financed and operationalized data management systems that provides yearly and up to date WASH information through the: WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORMS), National WASH Information System (NAWIS) and WASH Information Management System (WASHIMS).
Recently, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has established a multi-interagency and development partner technical working group to design Nigeria’s National Sector-wide Sustainability framework to achieve sustainable WASH services. The Ministry has also, concluded the development of a Monitoring and Evaluation framework to track progress in the sector and collaborated with WaterAid to domesticate it in the states where we work.
Regionally, the federal government has actively supported AMCOW and the process of developing the recent Africa Sanitation Policy Guidelines. The Minister followed this up with a pledge on Nigeria’s commitment to be one of the first countries to commence its implementation. He subsequently followed up with this commitment by setting up a team to lead the process in collaboration with WaterAid and other partners, to commence the process of reviewing the National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy, 2000 to align with the principles of the ASPG.
Additionally, the government has collaborated effectively with WaterAid in the quest to ensure everyone everywhere has improved water sanitation and hygiene services. WANG jointly engaged high level stakeholders (donors and representatives of private sector) during the 2019 World Water Week in Stockholm, where commitments to deepen support to the water sector in Nigeria was received. WaterAid and Federal Government of Nigeria signed an MoU to deliver the National Action plan. In keeping to this commitment, an agreement was further reached with the National Water Resource Institute (NWRI) to strengthen capacity of sector actors on rethinking rural sanitation by designing context specific short courses on Sanitation. The Honourable Minister was in full support and was personally in attendance at the MoU signing ceremony.
Finally, among other achievements, the FMWR under his leadership is at the verge of concluding the development of a National Roadmap for Hand Hygiene for Nigeria.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is in recognition of the unwavering commitment to achieving long lasting results in the WASH sector that WaterAid is proud and pleased to present this award to the Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Water Resources for the Federal Republic of Nigeria, in the person of Engineer Suleiman Hussein Adamu, for his outstanding leadership which has stirred and positioned the country on a path towards achieving transformational change in the Nigeria WASH sector.
On behalf of Tim Wainwright, the Chief Executive of WaterAid, we hereby resent the WaterAid President’s Award 2021 to you. This award, Honourable Minister represents the highest level of commendation WaterAid can offer its supporters and is awarded by our President, HRH The Price of Wales.
