Human welfare and economic development generally depend on the use of water. In Nigeria, water
resources management and utilization is crucial to the country’s efforts to reduce poverty, grow the
economy, ensure food security and maintain the ecological systems. After almost sixty years of water
supply development in Nigeria, it is unfortunate that as many as 43% of the population still lack
access to safe water. The situation in the rural areas is particularly bad compared to the urban areas.
In recognition of the poor state of water management in the country and its implication for socioeconomic
development and environmental sustainability, the present democratically elected
government has prepared a new national policy on water resources development. One of the objectives
of the policy is to provide good potable water for the rural population at an affordable price. To
achieve this objective, there is need to better understand the constraints and challenges of rural
water supply. Apart from addressing the issues of participatory governance, cost recovery and
appropriate technology, there is also a need to take into consideration the values, attitude, preferences
and capacities of the different stakeholders in the supply and management of water in rural areas.
The new integrated approach to sustainable water supply requires greater knowledge and
understanding of the technological, social, economic and ecological dimensions of water resource
management and how they are inter-related. Developing the capacity to engage in integrated
sustainable development planning from the community level to the highest national decision-making
level, remain a major challenge in Nigeria and many other African countries. It is in the light of this
that this study assesses the extent to which stakeholders are willing and able to adopt and implement
sustainable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly management options for water resources in
selected rural areas of Oyo State, Nigeria.
The specific objectives of the work include a review of the changing trend of the national and state
government policy framework for water resource management in relation to the motivation for policy
design, knowledge capacity building, and the degree of compliance with the new principles and
approach; determining the ‘social solidarities’ or the willingness of the stakeholders to adopt and/or
implement government policies and programmes on water resources management in the selected
rural areas of Oyo state, Nigeria; assess the knowledge base of the different stakeholder groups
about the technological, socio-economic and ecological dimensions of water resources
management, in terms of the availability of data and information, familiarity with the study area, and
the interaction between the stakeholder groups and, lastly, suggest ways of improving the peoples’
indigenous knowledge of water conservation in order to enhance the livelihoods of the rural dwellers
in the state and Nigeria ion general.