ABUJA (PRECISE POST) – Former Minister of Aviation Osita Chidoka has weighed into the controversy surrounding recent claims that 96 per cent of residents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have access to drinking water, saying the debate stems from misinterpretation of data rather than data falsification.
Reacting on his X account on Sunday to public backlash generated by an infographic based on the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), Chidoka explained that the statistic refers only to access to “at least basic drinking water service”—defined as water sourced from an improved facility with a round-trip collection time of 30 minutes or less.
He stressed that the figure does not imply piped water in homes, continuous supply, treated water, or protection from contamination.
According to the same NDHS report, Chidoka noted, only 38 per cent of Nigerian households have water on their premises, while 88 per cent do not treat their drinking water by any method, underscoring a critical gap between access, safety, and reliability.
“Access is not the same as safety, and safety is not the same as reliability,” he said.
Chidoka defended the data shared by StatiSense, stating that the figures are technically correct for the indicator cited, but warned that the problem lies in how technical statistics are communicated to the public.
He argued that phrases such as “clean drinking water” carry everyday meanings—safe, piped, and reliable—that go far beyond what the NDHS indicator actually measures. When such technical data is compressed into headline claims, he said, nuance is lost and confusion follows.
“Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of data as much as it suffers from poor data interpretation,” Chidoka said, adding that indicators are often mistaken for lived reality rather than defined measurements.
He noted that when citizens read claims of “96 per cent access” and compare them with daily experiences of tanker deliveries, untreated boreholes, and irregular water supply, public frustration is inevitable.
“The gap is not between truth and falsehood,” he said, “but between measurement and meaning.”
Chidoka called for more responsible public debate around statistics, urging policymakers, media, and citizens to interrogate data more critically.
“We will argue better, and govern better,” he said, “when we ask three questions of every statistic: What is being measured? What is not? And what conclusions does the data support—or not?”
STATES WITH THE HIGHEST ACCESS TO CLEAN DRINKING WATER IN NIGERIA
1 🟣Lagos — 98%
2 🟣Ogun — 97%
3 🟠FCT (Abuja) — 96%
4 🟣Osun — 94%
5 🟢Anambra — 93%
6 🟢Imo — 92%
7 🔴Kano — 92%
8 🟣Oyo — 92%
9 🟣Ondo — 91%
10 🟤Rivers — 91%
11 🟤Edo — 89%
12 🟣Ekiti — 88%
.
National average: 71%
🟠NC 🔴NW 🟢SE 🟤SS 🟣SW
All six South-West states appeared on the list of states with the highest access to basic drinking water in Nigeria, Lagos (98%) and Ogun (97%) are the top two nationwide.
#Statisense
(NDHS, 2024)
