Nigeria must treat water as national security issue –Minister

• Says 1,249 communities in 30 states, FCT face high flood risk

From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja

Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, has warned that Nigeria can no longer treat access to water merely as a development challenge, saying flooding, drought and unsafe water pose growing threats to national security and stability.

Utsev called for water security to be fully integrated into the country’s national security framework, warning that poor management of water resources could trigger public health emergencies, population displacement, food shortages and conflicts over scarce resources.

The minister spoke at the National Defence College (NDC), Abuja, where he stressed the strategic link between water availability, food production, public health and national stability.

According to him, ensuring access to safe water and sanitation could help prevent crises rather than leaving government and security agencies to deal with their consequences.

Utsev said Nigeria currently has about 154,000 hectares of irrigable land supporting more than 1.6 million farmers, adding that the Federal Government was working to expand irrigation as part of efforts to strengthen food security.

He also raised concern over the country’s exposure to flooding, disclosing that the 2026 Annual Flood Outlook identified 1,249 communities in 176 local government areas across 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as high-risk areas.

The minister said the figures underscored the need to treat water-related disasters as more than environmental challenges because of their potential to displace communities, destroy livelihoods, disrupt food production and create humanitarian emergencies.

Utsev disclosed that the ministry was developing a 2026–2030 National Water Compact to provide a coordinated framework for water and sanitation management across the country.

The initiative, he said, would be anchored on three pillars — “Water for People, Water for Food and Water for the Planet” — and aimed at harmonising policies and interventions nationwide.

Commandant of the National Defence College, Rear Admiral Abdullahi Ahmed, agreed that water security had become an important component of national security.

He called for stronger institutional cooperation in managing Nigeria’s water resources, particularly shared water systems whose availability and management could have implications for communities, agriculture and national stability.