Nigeria

Expertise: Hundreds of small scale drillers are involved in hand drilling throughout many parts of Nigeria (see Adekile and Olabode, 2009).

Techniques: Mainly jetting (known locally as hand turning). Also augering, hand percussion, and (on a very small scale) Baptist drilling.

Pumps installed on hand drilled wells: Hand pumps (Indian Mark II and India Mark III) are installed in rural areas. Submersible pumps are used in semi-urban communities, private houses and industries. Petrol pumps are apparently used on most irrigation wells although farmers in the northwest (Gusau and Sokoto) also use the treadle pump.

History: Richard Cansdale introduced well jetting (which later became known as washboring, and is now known in Nigeria as hand turning) in northern Nigeria over a two-month period as part of the Kano Agriculture and Rural Development Project (ADP) in 1982.  The technique was introduced for the drilling of irrigation wells in the sand rivers and fadamas of Kano State. 

There was massive adoption of the technique in Kano State and beyond, and within a few years thousands of wells being were “washed in”. More than 15,000 wells were drilled with jetting (or washboring) technology between 1983 and 1990 in Bauchi, Kano and Sokoto states, providing water sources for small scale irrigation of more than 16,000 hectares. Well jetting has also been undertaken extensively in the 11 northern and middle zone states. From irrigation the jetting technique has spread to domestic water supply.  

In the south of Nigeria the of hand drilling history is really not known but there are reports of hand drilled wells going back to the 1960s in Warri and Port Harcourt. Boreholes were also being drilled by hand percussion in Lagos in the 1970s for domestic water supply. This was probably an adaptation of ground investigation work to water supply.  

Standards: No documented standards specifically for hand drilled wells but standard designs are available for drilled wells installed with handpumps.

Average Costs: About US$ 50 for the irrigation wells (50 mm diameter uPVC lined 6 to 18 m deep).

About US$2,000 dollars for household water supply (35 m deep with 150 mm uPVC casing).

Suitable Areas:  Parts of northern and central Nigeria; loose sediments of Southern Nigeria; the southern coastal plains from the west to the east and alluvial floodplains. Groundwater is present at depths of less than 20m in most fadamas throughout the dry season.

Estimated potential target population: Very rough estimate of 30 million.

Hydrogeological Mapping: Since 1998, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (FMAWR) has been compiling hydrological data to produce a map of the country. The maps are not yet available.

Water Quality:  Usually good, but needs to be monitored for coliform.

Organisations involved: Hundreds of local enterprises undertake manual drilling in Nigeria (Adelike and Olabode, 2008).

Documentation:

Adekile and Olabode (2008). Hand drilling in Nigeria. Why kill an ant with a sledgehammer? RWSN/UNICEF Field Note.

Adelike and Olabode. 2009. Study of Public and Private Borehole Drilling in Nigeria. Unpublished Report by UNICEF Nigeria

Last update of information: May 2009.