ABOUT one million people in six Local Government Areas (LGA) of Jigawa and Kano States will
benefit from improved access to safe water and sanitation facilities following the completion
of several water and sanitation facilities in the six LGAs.
This was contained in a press release by UNICEF Communication Specialist, Dr. Geoffrey
Njoku on Friday stating that the facilities were provided through synergy and support from
the European Union (EU).
Njoku explained that the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities will go a long way
towards ensuring that people in Nigeria have access to safe WASH services noting that data
from the WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM) show that 47 million
Nigerians practice open defecation, and that only 11 percent of Nigerians have access to
complete basic water, sanitation and hygiene services while only 13 percent of schools have
access to basic water and sanitation services.
“The lack of WASH facilities in schools are of serious concern as children who do not have
access to water, are most likely to lose interest in pursuing learning opportunities because
they are forced to spend more time in search for water during school hours or stay out of
school to recover from illness caused by frequent episodes of diarrhea. More than 100,000
children under five years of age die each year due to water borne diseases like diarrhea, of
which 90 percent is directly attributed to unsafe water and sanitation”.
“Access to clean drinking water is a human right – just like the right to food and the right
to live without torture and racial discrimination. And ending open defecation and
making water, sanitation, and hygiene services available to all Nigerians is one of the
biggest challenges as construction and management of facilities requires sustained
investments and more partnerships, especially with the private sector”.
“The Nigeria Government should invest 3 times more in the water sector making sure
that every Nigeria has access to clean water and a toilet as the lack of access to water is
impacting the wellbeing especially to the most vulnerable”.
“The EU, through UNICEF, is supporting the Government of Nigeria to achieve the objectives
of the national campaign on an open defecation free Nigeria launched last year and the state
of emergency declared on the WASH sector by the President in 2018”.
“The EU-funded programmes support WASH projects in urban and rural areas through the
provision of water schemes, technical assistance and capacity development to sector
institutions and agencies responsible, and improved access to safe water, adequate
sanitation and hygiene services in communities. The European Union has invested more than
250 million Euros in the Nigerian water sector, aimed at improving the WASH conditions of
more than 10 million people in 14 States across the country”, Njoku stated.
He added that detailed information on the project and other UNICEF projects in the
areas are obtainable through the Communications Specialist, Rabiu Musa, on +234
(0)803 659 1164; Email: [email protected]
