People determine what becomes of them by virtue of their actions and inactions. Therefore, the development and exploration of natural/mineral resources in the environment by man such as water resources is often associated with problems. However, some of these problems are natural whereas others are man-made. Hence, this study investigated the efforts made by the Nigerian government towards the protection and sustenance of water resources with the view to achieve sustainable development, especially goal 6 of the 17 SDGs of the UN. The method implicit in the study is a qualitative survey research approach in which data were sourced through secondary means and descriptively content analyzed. System theory was employed in the analysis. Findings revealed that Nigerian governments have taken some bold steps to protect, provide, and sustain water resources in Nigeria. But the efforts are not genuinely designed and/or implemented as they yielded little or no significant results in protecting, providing, and sustaining the water bodies and making clean water available, accessible, and affordable to the citizens. Recommendations were made as a pathway to sustain water resources/bodies in Nigeria and make clean water available to the citizens.

Keywords: People, sustainable development, water resources/bodies, system theory, ecosystem, human capital development