This paper reviews the status of groundwater use, exploration, and policy in Nigeria. It is motivated by the growing centrality of groundwater in rural development and poverty eradication initiatives not only in Nigeria but elsewhere in SubSaharan Africa. These initiatives, often anchored in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and supported by international funding agencies, seek to improve human welfare through the provision of water in sufficient quantity and acceptable quality. For many parts of Africa, groundwater is the only technically and economically feasible water source.  Despite its significance, groundwater exploration remains rudimentary even in countries like Nigeria where the oil sector would be expected to logically impact groundwater technology. Policy, too, has remained ad hoc to non-existence for large parts of the country. The paper examines the reasons for the slow pace of improvements in groundwater exploration technology. It discusses insights gained from an international collaborative research effort on groundwater use and exploration between the University of Jos (Nigeria) and McMaster University in Hamilton (Ontario, Canada) and shows how the findings of the this and other studies could be used to develop or strengthen groundwater policy in Nigeria. The paper identifies several innovative, cost effective, and technologically appropriate solutions to groundwater exploration and use problems in Nigeria. It proposes a simple policy framework designed to translate scientific gains to societal good.