This paper presents a study of water vending in 3 informal settlements of Yola North in Adamawa State of Nigeria. These settlements represent the fast growing urban areas often dwelling in unplanned and unsecured tenure. Access to safe water supply has great influence on the health, economic productivity and quality of life of the people. But meeting this need is one of the major challenges facing the urban communities of Nigeria today. A field survey was conducted in the area with 100 observations of households in each of the three informal settlements. These settlements are Sabongari -University village, Vinikilang and Wuro Jabbe. The survey solicited for response concerning household water source, water per capita use and household size. Findings revealed that about 92% of respondent in Sabongari-University village, 66% in Vinikilang and 87% in Wuro Jabbe depend on vended water from borehole, hand dug well as well as surface water sources which are delivered by hand pushed trucks. Owing to the absence of piped water networks in the study area, households are forced to rely on available water sources which are precursor to water borne diseases. It is advocated that the public agencies should evolve special programs for regularizing informal settlements, meaning the legalization of land tenure, layout corrections and service upgrading if service is to meet the poor informal dwellers

It has been observed that government resources and interventions towards sustaining water supply in Wukari town have been insufficient. The result has been constant water crisis and shortages over the years. The objective of this paper is to explore the possibility of partnering for sustainable water provision, to identify potential partners and to propose an appropriate partnership framework. Two hundred and seventy-five (275) questionnaires were administered in the three (3) wards of the town from where respondents were drawn at random. Findings revealed that the centralized system of water management, the location of Wukari on a basement rock and the scarcity of state financial resources are some of the greatest obstacles to sustainable water supply. However, about (90%) of the respondents are willing to collaborate with other stakeholders while the community members are ready to provide land and labor for the partnership arrangement. This study recommends a paradigm shift from the centralized water management to a partnership approach between service providers, recipients of services and other related stakeholders