NIGERIA – Nestlé Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment in providing access to clean safe drinking water as part of its overall goal of improving livelihoods in the communities it operates in.
The food and beverage specialty company has continued to pursue its ambitions of enhancing quality of life and contribute to a healthier future through the launch initiatives geared towards providing clean safe water in the communities.
Speaking during the World Water Day 2019 under the theme ‘Leaving no one Behind’ the Managing Director and CEO of Nestlé Nigeria, Mr. Mauricio Alarcon said that the firm is ready to partner government and other stakeholders to ensure it creates share value for everyone across its value chain.
“We recognize and respect the fact that water is a fundamental human right.
In line with Nestlé’s purpose of enhancing quality of life and contributing to a healthier future, we work alongside other stakeholders to provide access to clean safe drinking water to those who live closest to our operations.
As we reflect on the theme for World Water Day, we reiterate our commitment to improving livelihoods in our communities,” Mr. Mauricio said.
So far, the firm has managed to connect 6,600 people to over 7,117,500 litres of clean and safe water the country.
Nestlé Nigeria has also commissioned four additional community water facilities in Ogun State, Nigeria which is anticipated to connect 7,500 more people as it continued to champion connectivity to safe water.
Speaking at the commissioning of the community water projects, Mr. Ibukun Ipinmoye, Nestlé Flowergate Factory Manager said;
“Today is very significant for us as it is another step towards ensuring that everyone in our community has access to clean, safe water for their basic daily needs.
We are confident that these 4 new water facilities will go a long way towards reducing the burden of families who had to travel long distances to find water.”
In 2017, the Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a two-year US$2.5 million Water and Sanitation Coordination Project (WCP), in the country as part of the efforts to ensure access safe and drinking water.
As important as water is to life, access to safe drinking water remains a challenge across the world with about 2.1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water worldwide, a report by World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals.
