Vote of Thanks by the AMCOW Executive Secretary at the Send-Off Dinner of Hon Eng Suleiman Adamu, Federal Minister of Water Resources, Nigeria and AMCOW Vice President 2021 – 2023 Held on Saturday, 20 May 2023.

Honourable Eng Suleiman Adamu,

Excellences, ladies and gentlemen,

All protocols observed.

I am honoured to convey the vote of thanks of the Council of Ministers responsible for water affairs in Africa to you Honourable Eng Suleiman Adamu. The Council of Ministers is what is popularly abbreviated as AMCOW. The Secretariat of AMCOW is hosted by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Water Resources. As such, Hon Eng Adamu has been AMCOW’s host Minister throughout his tenure; and the Vice President for West Africa for the period 2021 to 2023.

Reiterating the express sentiment of the Council, you have been a tireless AMCOW Brand Ambassador. This is exemplified by how you made AMCOW’s 20^th Anniversary celebrations without a doubt one of the highlights of the 9^th World Water Forum in Dakar, Senegal in 2022.

The passion with which you have always led AMCOW’s engagements and with which you always spoke about the vision of AMCOW’s founders, played no small part in the revitalisation we are now witnessing at AMCOW.

You were unequivocal in reminding all concerned of the Mission of AMCOW to provide political leadership to release the development potential of Africa’s Water resources.

You posed the perhaps difficult, but necessary questions of self-reflection on how – the Council – as the leadership of the water and sanitation sector in Africa, was doing to actualise the vision of the 45 founding Ministers that issued the Abuja Declaration establishing AMCOW.

Above all, you provided profound insight into motivating concrete action to move the water and sanitation agenda forward through sharing the success factors and lessons learnt from the PEWASH programme in Nigeria.

You have been accessible and enviably willing to give freely of your time to advance AMCOW matters. Your prioritisation of AMCOW has been invaluable to the Council’s achievements in:

1. Building consensus on an African common position on water security and sanitation for economic growth and social transformation. As we forge on from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic and the now-frequent water-related disasters, the significance of the Member States’ collective targeted action cannot be overemphasised.
2. Infusing new approaches into ongoing efforts to attract commensurate funding and investment to the sector. You have been at the forefront of promoting the sanitation economy and promoting the principles of valuing water in national systems for economic planning and domestic allocations.
3. Promoting a new narrative on Africa’s water resources as an essential ingredient of our aspirations for:
   • food security and nutritional safety;
   • energy sufficiency, industrialisation and modernisation of our economies;
   • human and environmental health and the associated improvements in productivity;
   • improvements in opportunities for trade, employment and prosperity for all; and,
   • inter-state cooperation, regional integration, peace and security.

Indeed, at the continental level, you have played a significant role in demonstrating AMCOW’s strength as an organisation and in improving AMCOW’s franchise value globally.

At the level of the Secretariat, we have lacked nothing that relates to the obligations of the host country in AMCOW’s Headquarters agreement. Indeed, you have spearheaded ongoing efforts to secure land for the construction of a permanent Secretariat as provided for in the said Agreement. This will not only address the requirements for space given the growth at the Secretariat over the last 20 years but will also contribute to assuring AMCOW’s financial sustainability.

And of course, it would be amiss of me not to acknowledge your support – through the Permanent Secretary and the technical leadership at the Ministry – that culminated in a generous update of the Secretariat’s fleet by the Federal Government. We are forever in your debt.

On a personal level, working under your leadership has been a truly enriching experience, characterised by immense learning and growth at the Secretariat.

The team at the Secretariat and I take it as our collective responsibility to celebrate the legacy of your service to AMCOW and jealously preserve it. We remain at your disposal and hope to learn more from you as we move forward.

Your peers, the members of the Council, and the water community in Africa thank you for the prestige that the style of your leadership has gained for AMCOW. I thank you.