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On a visit to South
Africa, I walked into some Nigerian street hawkers in Johannesburg. One
of them, noticing I was just visiting, commented, “Do you see how clean
and nice this place is?” It reminded me of the conversation between two
South Africans on my flight. They were returning home after a business
trip to Lagos. “Did you get to visit Abuja after all?” asked one of
them. “No, I was so fed up with this place, I decided to cut my trip
short and return to Jo’burg. Even the hotel had no water this morning!”
he said.

I thought the
discussion was cruel and stuffy, but of course I was eavesdropping and
had no business joining a conversation I’d not been invited to. Even if
I did contribute, what was I going to say in defence of Nigeria? How
does a “Centre of Excellence” surrounded by water, produce dry taps?
Lagos is mild compared to other places in this country where incidences
of cholera, typhoid and guinea worm are commonplace enough to send the
water and health authorities back to continue their sleep.

Johannesburg is one
of the few big cities in the world not located near a major water
source. Some of the water supply to Johannesburg is pumped from over
45km away. Nevertheless, that city enjoys a much better and more
efficient water supply system than the almost submerged Lagos, or any
city in Nigeria. Two sources of water common in Nigeria actually result
from earth’s infinite generosity – groundwater and surface water, the
latter including, lakes, rivers and wetlands.

The problem in
Nigeria is, therefore, not so much the occurrence of water, but the
technical capability to manage its abundance, to design and execute
infrastructure to clean it and pipe into homes. It rains so heavily in
Nigeria that we do not need a foreign technical adviser to coach on how
rainwater could be collected, stored and used. This is simple
technology that dates back to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, but
virtually unknown in modern Nigeria.

Yet, every
university faculty of science in the universe has a brilliant Nigerian
in it. Something at the governance level discourages innovation and
intellectualism in Nigeria.

I asked those
compatriots in Johannesburg if they intended inviting their South
African friends to visit Onitsha or Aba over Christmas, and the answer
was roaring laughter. Nigerians living abroad hardly invite their
friends to spend time in Nigeria.

And we’re supposed
to be a hospitable people? The reasons are obvious – constant stress of
having to repeatedly apologize and make excuses for poor sanitation,
for the toilet that cannot flush, indeed for lack of water and
epileptic supply of electricity.

Notice that
strangers are never shy to ask, “Could I have some water to drink?”
because we intuitively believe that water should be a basic human right
and must be available all the time in a home. Leaning on the 1968 paper
called The Tragedy of the Commons by the ecologist, Garrett Hardin,
water is the ultimate commons. But whatever seems boundless is
naturally easily abused, and that is what is going on with water
resources in Nigeria.

Ecuador is the
first country in the world to put the rights of nature in its
constitution so that rivers and forests are not simply property but
maintain their own right to flourish. Under these laws, a citizen might
file a suit on behalf of an injured watershed, recognizing that its
health is crucial to the common good.

We have a long way to go in Nigeria.