Over 400 -700 million lack safe water, basic hygiene In Africa….World Bank

• Turning Africa’s water crisis from an emergency to economic opportunity

The world Bank in its latest publication of the Voices writes that the scarcity of safe water in Africa, which places about 400 million people in lack of safe water, provides immense opportunities for the continent.

The report said that Africa does not have a water problem, rather.  Africa has a water opportunity; what is missing is not the water, but the infrastructure, institutions, and financing needed to transform water into jobs, growth, food security, and resilience.

It noted that Africa has seen its population grow from 800 million to 1.3 billion over the past two decades, but the availability of clean, safe water across the continent hasn’t kept pace. More than 400 million people in the region still lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 700 million have no access to basic sanitation.

Recognizing the urgent need to advance on this issue, the government of Chad and the World Bank Group are hosting a summit this week to discuss what it will take—from governments, development partners, and the private sector—to accelerate progress at scale. As leaders chart a path forward together, one thing is abundantly clear: Africa’s water issues present a huge economic opportunity

The report pointed that the Nile has sustained economies for millennia.

Further noted that the Congo Basin discharges more freshwater into the ocean than any river system outside the Amazon. Lake Chad, Lake Victoria, the Niger, the Zambezi, the Senegal, the Chari, the Logone, and the Volta rivers form a network of shared natural assets that, combined, can power Africa’s economies and feed hundreds of millions of people.

The world Bank report further enumerated that with more than 80 transboundary river and lake basins and the Nubian Sandstone, the need for Africa to develop shared goals and a unified approach is obvious. A collective, collaborative approach to water will generate benefits well beyond the sector itself. Globally, 1.7 billion jobs are in water-dependent sectors, including agribusiness, tourism, mining, and manufacturing—sectors likely to be engines for Africa’s future growth and job creation.

“We must broaden how we view water, treating it not as a stand-alone sector but as the foundation for economic growth, human development, food security, and climate resilience.

Water Forward, a global effort launched by the World Bank Group and partners, does exactly that. Along with its goal of delivering water security to more than a billion people by 2030, Water Forward aims to move water from a source of risk to a driver of jobs, growth, and resilience. At its core is making water systems investable, scalable, and capable of supporting regional prosperity