As vast as Nigeria is, it is known to face several challenges which one of them is access to clean drinkable and healthy weather. Due to the geographic location and natural resources that comes out of the ground in Nigeria, access to clean water has become impossible in some part of the country.
For positive outcomes in health, nutrition, education, gender equality, livelihoods, and the socioeconomic growth of a nation, access to water, sanitation, and hygiene are fundamental human rights.
Virtually every element of human development is negatively impacted by a lack of access to these essential life-saving treatments, but women’s and girls’ chances in life are disproportionately harmed. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations are centered on ensuring that everyone has inclusive and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
However, millions of people in low-and middle-income nations like Nigeria lack access to clean water and sanitary facilities. According to the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping (WASHNorm) 2018, over 47 million Nigerians still practice open defecation, 110 million lack access to decent toilets, and 55 million still need clean water supply services.
According to UNICEF, poor water supply and sanitation reportedly cost the Nigerian economy 1.3% of GDP yearly, or over NGN1.9 trillion.
These losses can be seen in the lost productivity caused by illnesses connected to water and sanitation, the time spent obtaining water and sanitation services, the avoidable costs incurred by the government and households to treat the diseases, and the diminished human potential seen in malnutrition and mortality.
Also, some conflicts in the North-Central region have been linked to people not having enough access to water sources.
The Federal Government’s proclamation of a State of Emergency in November 2018 and the release of a National Action Plan for the sector’s revitalization have sped up efforts to address the water and sanitation issues.
The Water Resources Bill, the Open Defecation Free Road Map, and the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene (PRE WASH) all back this plan to make sure that everyone has access to water, sanitation, and hygiene by 2030.
Eighty million Nigerians live without better sanitary facilities and 60 million without access to decent drinking water. The government of Nigeria deemed the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector to be in a state of emergency in 2018.
In 2019, 60 million Nigerians were without access to essential drinking water due to inadequate infrastructure, a lack of necessary human resources, low investment, and a weak enabling regulatory environment, among other issues. One hundred sixty-seven million people lacked access to even the most basic handwashing facilities, and 80 million lacked access to better sanitation facilities.
Only half of rural families have access to improved sanitation, and 39% of households in these areas conduct open defecation, a percentage that has barely changed since 1990.
By allowing kids to spend less time collecting water to go to school, lowering the occurrence of illnesses that could keep them home from school, and fostering a secure and healthy learning environment while they are there, access to WASH can have an impact on the number of years they spend in school.
President Muhammadu Buhari declared a State of Emergency in 2018 and unveiled the National Action Plan (NAP), a 13-year plan to revitalize Nigeria’s water supply, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) sector to ensure universal access to sustainable and adequately managed WASH services by 2030, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. These steps show that the Nigerian government is more committed than ever to improving access to WASH services.
- Ensuring by 2030 that all people have access to sustainable and safely run WASH services
- The National Urban Water Sector Reform Program was one of these (NUWSRP).
The NUWSRP set forth several goals, including sector reform, water utility sustainability and commercial viability, infrastructure improvement, service dependability, performance enhancement, and improved access to high-quality piped water networks in urban areas across the country. And 33 Local Government Areas in nine states have been marked as places where people can’t poop in the open.
enhancing infrastructure to supply water to 6 million Nigerians
I must use the local water pushers, paying up to Naira 1,500 a day. The Water Board only provides water occasionally (about 30 minutes per day, twice a week) (approximately 4 dollars). I don’t know how clean the water is because I don’t get it from where it comes from.
Isah Mohammed, who is from the state of Benue, said, “I have to buy a lot of sachet water, which is supposed to be cleaner, to bathe, cook, and drink.
“I use two washing machines for my business, and the water problems we encounter here are so poor that we must store the water used to rinse clothing and make soapy water to recycle it for other applications.
These activities ceased after the project started supplying water to the neighborhood. The kegs I previously used to hold water have been stored elsewhere because they are no longer needed.
Moving the clean and healthy water project will do a very big Favour to Nigeria as it will save more lives in so many areas of the country who have no access to clean water.
