Author(s)

Emma E. Ezenwaji¹, Everistus U. Anyaeze², Anthony U. Nwafor³

¹Department of Geography and Meteorology, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
²Department of Environmental Management, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria.
³Department of Civil Engineering, Federal Polytechnic, Oko, Nigeria.

Most water and sanitation projects in poor neighbourhood of urban Nigeria are executed through self-supply option. This is defined as an incremental improvement of WASH products e.g. water and sanitation structures by a household or small group of households which are financed by their own effort and investment. It is indeed a concept which complements conventional water supply and sanitation funded by government. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to investigate the extent of the use of innovative financing especially group saving approach to improve water and sanitation projects in Awka town, Nigeria. Towards achieving the aim, data were collected through questionnaires which were designed and administered on the respondents between January and April, 2016 and from other secondary sources. Data were analyzed using Principal Component Analysis and Component scores to establish the extent of the use of this option in the 9 component quarters of the town. Result shows that some quarters have perfected using the self-supply option while in others, it is yet to be widely accepted. It is finally recommended among others that the urban water policy as well as urban water safety plan should be revised to include the option as a way of improving domestic water supply and sanitation in the town.

Water, Sanitation, Households, Innovative, Self-Supply

Ezenwaji, E. , Anyaeze, E. and Nwafor, A. (2018) Improving Self-Supply of Urban Water and Sanitation Projects through Microfinancing in Nigeria. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 6, 20-33. doi: 10.4236/gep.2018.62002.