05 Nov The Federal Government of Nigeria on eradicating open deification in Nigeria
The Federal Government of Nigeria on Monday proposed a private and public sector partnership, to enhance Nigeria’s chances at meeting the Sustainable Development Goals targets in WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) by 2030.
The Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu expressed worry at Nigeria’s open defecation problem. “Access to basic sanitation in Nigeria is not encouraging; with the statistics sitting at a meagre 35.7%, only 34% of schools in Nigeria have access to basic sanitary facilities”.
He revealed that open defecation is a consequence of another national issue: the inaccessibility to basic sanitary needs. Approximately 47 million Nigerians do not have access to sanitation services like toilets or wash areas. As a result, they use open areas– forests, rivers and streets– as a substitute for their sanitary needs.
“Only minimal progress has been achieved in our implementation of the open defecation-free (ODF) roadmap, with only 14 local governments across the country so far being certified as open defecation-free, according to the national ODF protocol”, the minister said. He suggested that the best way to address these issues and ensure rapid progress is through the proposed collaboration.
An asset the Minister failed to mention is non-profit organisations. NGOs with goals around health and hygiene (such as Visit A Hospital Today), would be an asset to the government, would contribute considerably towards reaching the WASH goals.
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