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Tag: sanitation

  • Govt urges Lagosians to prioritise sanitation

    Govt urges Lagosians to prioritise sanitation

    The Lagos State Government has harped on the importance of maintaining good sanitation among residents.

     Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Tokunbo Wahab stated this during the Weekly Community-Based Environmental Sanitation Advocacy Campaign yesterday in Bariga Local Council Development Area (LCDA).

    He said: “We are ramping up sensitisation and advocacy to prepare residents for the upcoming monthly environmental sanitation.”

    He said investigations in the area uncovered several houses with septic tanks illegally connected to drainage systems and some structures built on drainage channels.

    He said those buildings would soon be sealed by the relevant authorities. He urged residents to support the government’s efforts by regularly cleaning the drainages in front of their homes and avoiding illegal waste disposal.

    He emphasised the importance of community ownership of public infrastructure to ensure its longevity.

    Addressing the issue of flooding in the Ekimogun area, Wahab said the government would reassess claims by the community that sandfilling at the Oworo end is contributing to the flooding.

    He reiterated the government’s commitment to finding a lasting solution to the problem.

    Wahab praised the effectiveness of the campaign, noting that communities previously visited have maintained improved sanitation practices, leading to cleaner and healthier environments.

    Read Also: Hunger protest: North tolerated too much poverty, corruption – Shettima

    Chairman of Bariga LCDA, Kolade Alabi,  advised: “We must stop littering our roads and canals with waste. Residents should bag their waste at home and use the services of PSP operators,” Alabi urged.

    He said the government planned to make waste bins available to every household at a reasonable cost, as part of its commitment to keeping the environment clean.

    Managing Director, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) announced that Bariga LCDA had been earmarked to host a recycling facility.

    This “Waste to Wealth” initiative is expected to significantly reduce illegal waste disposal.

    Residents were encouraged to collaborate with the government in keeping Lagos free of garbage, with assurances that waste bins would soon be distributed to tenements in Bariga.

  • Residents clamour for return of monthly sanitation

    Residents clamour for return of monthly sanitation

    …govt to distribute smart bins to tenements

    Residents of Ajeromi local government area of Lagos State have called on the Lagos State government to return the monthly environmental sanitation exercise as a way to ensure a clean state.

    The residents made the appeal on Sunday, July 28, during the ongoing weekly sanitation awareness and cleaning exercise led by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s special adviser on the environment, Olakunle Rotimi-Akodu.

    The Baale, Babaloja, and CDC appealed to the State Government to reconsider the introduction of monthly sanitation exercise.

    They also clamoured for a return of waste police to prevent littering and indiscriminate waste disposal. “More people need to be enlisted to become LAWMA policemen in our neighbourhoods to prevent environmental lawlessness,” they said.

    Rotimi-Akodu, in his response, said the government will introduce smart bins for every tenement to curb indiscriminate waste disposal ‘which is a major contributor to the prevalence of communicable diseases’.

    He noted that the smart bin has become necessary to monitor the effectiveness of PSP operators and also tenements towards refuse disposal and payment of levy.

    He said: “We are here at Ajeromi and what we see is appalling. We will work more with the people and raise the bar on good sanitary practices; we are ramping up our advocacy and sensitization to achieve positive change.

    “The stretch of Mobil Road to Alayabiagba/Boundary Market is filthy and people are comfortable in it. This means we have a lot to do in advocacy so we can change the people’s psyche about environmental hygiene. It seems they are used to living in filthy environments and we need to change that mindset and ideology.

    “That is why this sensitisation where top officials of the ministry also take part in clearing refuse has a far-reaching positive impact because if they see us in action, it will communicate with them that they should also participate. They will understand that waste and filth should not be indulged. “Advocacy is not just talking, but participating in the action, leading the path, and then they will have no excuse but to join the train. We have to get the people involved in the drive to maintain a clean tidy hygienic environment.

    “The people have also said they want the government to restore the monthly sanitation exercise. This feedback shows that we are on the same page on the need to maintain a clean environment.

    “The Baale mentioned that Lagos was not this dirty when the sanitation exercise was being held. It goes to show that they now see the need because we cannot impose it on the people. We want them to see and understand the need. It further goes to show that it’s a thing of the mind, once we declare that day for environmental sanitation, people are already wired to this time and look forward to it.

    Read Also: Lagos Taskforce raids black spots, seizes illicit drugs

    “We will deliver their message to Mr. Governor and follow things through. We are also planning to deploy smart bins to monitor the effectiveness of LAWMA/PSP operators, and even residents’ response to dropping off their waste and payment. It will help us gauge the performance of officials and the residents alike.

    “I can assure you that the government will not rest until efforts to sanitise and purify our environment yield good results.”

    Managing Director of LAWMA Dr. Muyiwa Gbadegeshin said chips attached to the bins would notify LAWMA when the PSP Operators fail to pick up waste at the appropriate time.

    He reiterated that a safe, clean, and sustainable environment is the function of all residents so everyone must make good sanitation practices a way of life and support the government’s efforts.

    Akodu was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary (Environmental Services) Gaji Omobolaji; Permanent Secretary (Drainage Services) Engr Mahamood Adegbite; LASPARK General Manager Mrs. Toun Popoola; KAI Marshal, Maj. Olatunbosun Cole (rtd); General Manager, LASWMO, Engr. Adefemi Afolabi and other top ministry officials.

    The team visited Mobil Road/ Apapa / Ajeromi/Ajegunle boundary and Alayabiagba market.

  • Lagos environmental sanitation nostalgia

    Lagos environmental sanitation nostalgia

    On September 22, while touring the state to assess adherence to environmental laws, Lagos State governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu reportedly mulled the reintroduction of the state’s monthly environmental sanitation practice. He was said to be unhappy about how the state’s environmental laws were being flouted. Obviously he believes that conducting a three-hour clean-up once a month would do the trick. Did it solve the problem before? He seems to suggest that it is only those three hours on that one day in the month that the state’s environmental laws could be enforced. In other words, the state lacks the wherewithal to enforce environmental laws on other days of the month. There can be no worse admission of a state’s impotence in the face of violations of the law, or of a state’s lack of innovation and imaginativeness.

    Read Also: Prophet seeks patience with Tinubu for peaceful, prosperous nation

    Reintroducing the monthly environmental practice is nothing but a feeble and unimaginative surrender to nostalgia. For a megacity and commercial capital of a country of 200 million people, and a state with an estimated population of over 20 million people, it is worrisome that it appears to put so much premium on a one-day, three-hour clean-up measure to remedy the abhorrent environmental practice of lawbreakers. Has the state government calculated the economic cost of arresting commerce for three hours? In a world that has become highly sophisticated, where environmental issues and other societal challenges are dealt with at the highest technologically innovative level, it is disturbing that the state is attempting to return to a primeval era. Mr Sanwo-Olu should enforce the law and put a team together that can innovate Lagos out of its environmental quagmire, rather than look for simplistic ways out.

  • Why movement can’t be restricted for sanitation, by lawyers

    Two lawyers, Ikenna Okoli and Francis Moneke, have urged the Lagos State Government not to re-introduce a monthly environmental sanitation that will restrict movement.

    They said a 2016 Court of Appeal judgment which ruled that the state government has no power to do so, still stands.

    Okoli is the Chairman, Human Rights and Empowerment Project Ltd/GTE (HREP), while Moneke is the group’s Executive Director.

    Earlier this month, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed an Executive Order against indiscriminate and illegal dumping of waste.

    On June 10, Sanwo-Olu debunked speculations on the purported resumption of monthly sanitation in the state, explaining that conversation on the return of the exercise was still a proposal.

    In a statement to The Nation, the lawyers observed that former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode cancelled the monthly exercise following two appellate court judgments in Okafor vs Lagos State Government declaring it illegal.

    Read Also: Lagos advocates better maintenance culture

    HREP said: “That case, which was sponsored by HREP and prosecuted from the High Court of Lagos State up to the Court of Appeal by Ikenna Okoli, with a team of other lawyers as counsel for the appellant, laid to rest the issue of the propriety of restricting the movement of people for the reason of environmental sanitation.

    “The Court of Appeal in that case reversed the earlier decision of the State High Court on the issue, and held that the fundamental right to freedom of movement which is constitutionally guaranteed under Section 41(1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) cannot be taken away or curtailed by a mere executive order or policy, or even a law.

    “Section 41(2) specifically mentions matters on which a law may be justified to restrict the movement of citizens. Environmental sanitation is certainly not a justifiable reason to restrict the fundamental right to freedom of movement.

    “Nothing stops the Lagos State Government from running or implementing a seamless and robust sanitation policy without restricting the movement of people as it is done in other civilised nations.”

  • ‘Sanitation offenders to be prosecuted’

    Ekiti State Government is to institute mobile magistrates’ courts in all the local governments, Deputy Governor Bisi Egbeyemi has said.

    He said the courts are to prosecute defaulters of environmental sanitation laws during the exercise.

    The deputy governor, in a statement after monitoring last Saturday’s environmental sanitation, berated the level of compliance to the exercise in Efon Alaaye Local Government. He warned that stiffer sanctions would be enforced to bring about attitudinal change in people towards the exercise.

    Egbeyemi ordered the Coordinating Director in Efon Alaaye Local Government, Mr. Lawrence Ogunsakin, to embark on rigorous programmes that would enlighten and sensitise the people to the exercise.

    Ogunsakin claimed that residents did not turn out in large number for the exercise because of the funeral of one of the illustrious sons of the local government and the fact that the day fell on a market day.

    He said the council had embarked on awareness programme and written security agencies to enforce the sanitation law.

    The coordinating director promised to liaise with the monarch of Efon Alaaye to form a synergy with the waste management agency to make his subjects turn out in large number for the next exercise.

    He ordered the security agencies to delay offenders, including private and commercial motorists, till the end of the exercise.

    Ogunsakin said he was surprised that people would still hold ceremonies and open market on a day meant for the cleaning of their environment.

    Expressing displeasure at the rate people and motorists moved around during the exercise, he said subsequent environmental exercise would witness the enforcement of law on offenders.

    Ogunsakin said: “We caught some motorists. I told security agents not to release them until after the exercise.”

    He said the absence of mobile magistrates’ courts made it difficult to punish offenders.

  • UNICEF: Over 3.6 m Nigerians in need of hygiene services

    The United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF) says over 3.6 million people lack access to potable water, sanitation and hygiene services in Nigeria.

    UNICEF’s Representative in the country, Mr Mohamed Fall, made this known on Friday in a statement to commemorate World Water Day scheduled for March 22 with the 2019 theme: “Living no one behind”.

    Fall identified 1.1 million as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) as a result of violence and conflict, noting that many of them are out-of-reach in remote areas still impacted by conflict.

    “About 800,000 people are in hard-to-reach areas and 79 per cent of these are children and women.

    “In Nigeria, conflict has created huge challenges for people living in the Northeast of the country, where violence has affected their ability to access water and sanitation, leading to diseases such as cholera.

    “In the North-east 5,365 people were affected by cholera, with 61 dying in 2017, while 12,643 people were affected in 2018 and 175 died of the disease,” Fall said.

    UNICEF Executive Director, Ms Henrietta Fore noted that children below the age of 15 in countries affected by protracted conflict on the average, are three times more likely to die from diarrhoea  due to lack of  access to WASH facilities  than as a result of  direct violence.

    Fore, who quoted UNICEF’s latest report titled: “Water Under Fire”, said the odds were already stacked against children living through prolonged conflicts.

    “The odds are already stacked against children living through prolonged conflicts with many unable to reach a safe water source.

    READ ALSO: UNICEF: we’re committed to clean environment in Anambra

    “The reality is that there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets,” she said.

    Fore said that UNICEF has intensified efforts to scale-up life-saving responses, especially in IDP camps to ensure quality and sustainability of WASH services and facilities.

    She further noted that the agency was also working to minimise the risk of WASH-related diseases and provide preventive measures against cholera and other water-borne diseases.

    According to her, without safe and effective WASH services, children are at risk of malnutrition and preventable diseases including diarrhoea, typhoid, cholera and polio.

    “Girls are particularly affected: They are vulnerable to sexual violence as they collect water or venture out to use latrines. They deal with affronts to their dignity as they bathe and manage menstrual hygiene.

    “And they miss classes during menstruation if their schools have no suitable water and sanitation facilities.

    “These threats are exacerbated during conflict when deliberate and indiscriminate attacks destroy infrastructure, injure personnel and cut off the power that keeps water, sanitation and hygiene systems running.

    “Armed conflict also limits access to essential repair equipment and consumables such as fuel or chlorine – which can be depleted, rationed, diverted or blocked from delivery. Far too often, essential services are deliberately denied,” she noted.

    “Deliberate attacks on water and sanitation are attacks on vulnerable children. Water is a basic right. It is a necessity for life,” she added.

    NAN

  • C/River government lauded for $3m commitment to water, sanitation

    The Cross River State government has been commended for its commitment on an annual $3 million investment in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector.

    In a communiqué at the end of the State’s WASH Steering Committee one-day advocacy meeting with the media, government and development partners to review the status of Water and Sanitation Hygiene, in Calabar, the state government was also urged to commence practical modalities for the implementation of the pledge, which was made at the Mandela 100 Global Citizen Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa.

    The programmes under review at the meeting were the EU/UNICEF-WSSSP II, the Global Sanitation Funded-RUSHPIN Programme; USAID and Coca Cola Foundation; Water and Development Alliance (WADA) project; and the UKAid sanitation project with United Purpose.

    The communiqué signed by the Commissioner, Ministry of Water Resources, Ntufam Gabe Oji, and 12 others read in part, however observed that there are key outstanding gaps requiring urgent government attention in the four major water and sanitation programmes in the state that are coming to an end in 2019: the EU/UNICEF-WSSSP II, the Global Sanitation Funded-RUSHPIN Programme, USAID and Coca Cola Foundation; Water and Development Alliance (WADA) project, and the UKAid sanitation project with United Purpose.

    The meeting also called on the state government to release and make available agreed operational counterpart funds to the EU-UNICEF programmes and Global Sanitation Fund-RUSHPIN programmes.

    They noted that there are future investment opportunities for Cross River State in view of the State of Emergency for the WASH sector declared by the Federal Government and the 30 billion naira WASH fund.

  • Ladipo auto market president harps on sanitation

    Ladipo Central Executive Auto Dealers Association (LASEC) President-General Jude Nwankwo has called for the regular cleaning of markets in the state in tandem with the government’s policy.

    He spoke when LASEC held its maiden sanitation last Friday.

    Many members of the  association were caught unawares when a team of the LASEC led by Nwankwo inspected the 45 units of the market. Some who thought it would be business as usual and displayed their goods were shocked to see the team. They were ordered by the president to pack up and partake in the cleaning.The president warned leaders of the units that were dirty to clean them up. He warned those who have turned a portion of the road  to displaying their wares to stop or face the union’s wrath.

    The sanitation, which started about 8am, lasted till noon.The president assured that it would be held periodically to enable members imbibe the ethic of environmental sanitation, adding that clealiness is next to godliness.

    Though the market was shut in 2013 by a former administration in the state for its untidiness, Nwankwo said the step his exco took was not informed by the Ambode administration’s policy, but rather to support it in its onerous task of riding the state of dirt. Nwankwo said Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has fulfilled his promise to the market with the ongoing construction of the road into the market, adding that it was necessary that they too should cooperate with him in sanitation.

    A member of the union’s Environmental Committee Hon Onyeka Igwe scored the day’s sanitation a huge success, urging members to continue with it. Igwe, who is the Chief of Staff to the president, confirmed that their aim was to enable the market wear a new look.

  • Water, sanitation: Buhari’s emergency to the rescue

    With the launch of the National Action Plan for the Revitalisation of Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene Sector, Nigeria is set to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) by 2030. FRANK IKPEFAN writes that President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration of emergency on water and sanitation is to avoid a repeat of the country’s failure to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for WASH in 2015.

    THE stage was set and guests were seated. The venue was the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. The scenery was aesthetic. It betrayed the decision that was to come out of it. In less than 30 minutes, President Muhammadu Buhari had declared a state of emergency on water and sanitation sector.

    To many stakeholders, the measure taken by the Buhari administration was right, considering the decline in the sector’s fortune.

    Unknown to many, the water and sanitation sector has recorded more deaths than the rampaging Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast. Hundreds of infants are lost annually to water borne diseases.

    According to the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) Chief Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Zaid Jurji, 122,000 Nigerians, including 87,000 children below five years die each year from diarrhea; nearly 90 per cent is directly attributed to lack of WASH.

    Without toilets, the people are left with the option of defecating in the open, an act leading to exposure to diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, viral hepatitis, typhoid, polio, and dysentery, Jurji explained.

    Despite being the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, one out of three Nigerians lacks access to clean water close to his/home; and two in three have no access to decent household toilets, according to WaterAid Nigeria, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).

    So, it was only a matter of time before attention was directed to a sector that had received less attention in policy making and monitoring, despite huge investments.

    Also, the country’s sanitation and hygiene fortune has been on the decline since the 90s. Little or no effort had been done to revive it. In fact, Nigeria recorded practically no progress in the area of sanitation in the last 25 years, a World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) in a 2015 Report, said.

    The report, aimed at monitoring the progress of countries towards achieving access to safe water and basic sanitation, said that 38 per cent of the world population had access to improved sanitation in 1990,

    The figure declined in 2015 to a dismal 29 per cent, which was up just by one per cent from 2014’s figure of 28 per cent.

    In declaring the state of emergency, President Buhari said that Nigeria could not afford to allow water borne diseases to continue to decimate the country’s population.

    He decried the high rating of the country as number two in the global rating on Open Defecation as about 25 per cent of the population practice open defecation.

    According to UNICEF, Nigeria ranks among the top five open defecator in the world for the past 15 years, moving from fifth place in 2013 to second in 2015.

    Inaugurating the National Action Plan for Revitalisation of the WASH Sector, Buhari said that the declaration became imperative to reduce the high-prevalence of water-borne diseases across the country, which had caused preventable deaths.

    He said: “Access to pipe borne water services which was 32 per cent in 1990 has declined to seven per cent in 2015; access to improved sanitation has also decreased from 38 per cent in 1990 to 29 per cent in 2015.

    “Our country now ranks No 2 in the global rating on Open Defecation as about 25 per cent of our population practice open defecation.

    “WASH services at the rural areas are unsustainable as 46 per cent of all water schemes are non-functional, and the share of our spending on WASH sector has been declining from 0.70 per cent of the GDP in 1990 to about 0.27 per cent in 2015 which is far below the 0.70 per cent at the West African regional level.

    “However, these are not being given the required attention judging from the high prevalence of water-borne diseases that are being reported in different parts of the country.

    “We cannot and will not continue to allow these preventable occurrences to decimate our population.

    “The Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) targets (6.1 & 6.2) for WASH are even more demanding as they require WASH services to be provided in adequate quantity and quality on premises at affordable prices.

    “This cannot be achieved if we continue with ‘a business as usual’ approach. It is on this premise that I fully endorse the decision taken at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in April this year to declare ‘a State of Emergency on our WASH sector.’

    “I call on all state governments to complement this effort by according the sector similar recognition to enable us work together to achieve the SDG targets for WASH by 2030.’’ President Buhari assured that his administration will continue to place priority on infrastructure development including water supply, sanitation and hygiene services towards ensuring a better life for Nigerians.

    He said: “From the inception of this administration, we have demonstrated serious commitment to the development of the Water Sector by preserving the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and subsequently approving the 15-year roadmap developed for the sector.

    “The transformation being witnessed in the sector since then is highly commendable. I have no doubt that the on-going initiatives including the implementation of the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) in the ministry will take the water sector to improved performance and supply, thereby meeting the national aspirations as well as the SDGs.”

    WaterAid Country Director in Nigeria ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye hailed the Federal Government’s emergency response to address the water and sanitation crisis, the first phase of a National Action Plan to address a state of emergency declared earlier in April this year.

    The organisation, which is a key player in the sector, in a statement by its Communications & Media Manager, Seyi Abdulmalik, in Abuja, the nation’s capital, said the water and sanitation sector kills more people annually than the insurgency in the Northeast states of Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe.

    The statement said that poor sanitation was estimated to cost countries the equivalent of 0.9 per cent of GDP – “in Nigeria, this amounts to $3.38 billion USD a year.”

    Dr. Aniagolu-Okoye said: “With one in three Nigerians without clean water, and two in three Nigerians without decent household sanitation, strong political will is what is needed to address the water and sanitation crises in Nigeria and at WaterAid we are delighted that the Federal Government and President Buhari is demonstrating the needed political will with the launch of the Action Plan.

    “The National Plan of Action is a significant political milestone towards achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal Six to reach everyone, everywhere with clean water and decent sanitation by 2030 and our expectation is that state governments will follow suit in developing Action Plans to address the Water and Sanitation crises in their respective states.”

    UNICEF has also hailed the government’s declaration, describing it as an important milestone.

    Its chief WASH urged the government to translate the action plan into reality by increasing its budget for the water sector.

    Jurji added that UNICEF will continue support projects targeted at reaching the underserved in the country.

    UNICEF Chief WASH said: “This is a very important milestone; a commitment by the highest authority in the country. The Federal Government needs to translate this plan into a reality and this starts with increased budgetary allocations to the sector.

    “UNICEF’s role is catalytic and will help transfer knowledge of successful projects that are being supported to other underserved and unserved locations. UNICEF will also support with updated technical data and information to identify areas of priority needs and help informed decision making. The scale of need is enormous and support will have to be done in a targeted and progressive manner.”

    Also, the National Coordinator, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaboration Council (WSSCC), Dr. Priscilla Achakpa, said that governments at all levels, must show commitment to the deflation if the action plan on water and sanitation should succeed.

    According to her, Nigeria, being a signatory to the UN declaration on SDGs, must ensure that it demonstrates the political will to change the fortune of the water sector.

    She also said the declaration called for improved investment of resources on the sector.

    Dr. Achakpa said: “I think that the declaration of emergency on WASH is coming at no better time than now. This is the right time for Nigeria to take the lead being a signatory to the UN declaration on SDGs.

    “This should not just be a declaration. There should be a lot of commitment because the declaration requires a lot of resources, political will and a lot of commitment at not just the federal level but at the local levels. The political will of state government and local governments are needed if this must succeed.”

    The National Action Plan begins with an 18-month emergency plan, followed by a five-year recovery plan and a 13-year revitalisation strategy, towards the 2030 deadline set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate extreme poverty, and create a healthier, more sustainable planet.

    It commits the federal and state governments to establish the institutional and funding foundations for sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services, and to accelerate development towards 2030.

    But, what commitment will the federal, state and local governments show to this declaration? Only time will tell.

  • Buhari declares state of emergency on water, sanitation

    •’Nigeria ranks second in global open defecation’

    Nigeria cannot afford to allow water borne diseases to keep decimating its population, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

    The President, who stated this while inaugurating National Action Plan for Revitalisation of Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector at the State House, has, therefore, declared a state of emergency on water supply, sanitation and hygiene sector.

    He decried the country’s No. 2 rating in the global report on defecation, which claims that about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s population  practising open defecation.

    Buhari said the declaration has become imperative to reduce the high-prevalence of water-borne diseases in different parts of the country.

    He noted that the situation is causing preventable deaths, adding that he was aware that Nigeria did not meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  targets for Water Supply and Sanitation that ended in 2015.

    While emphasising that the provision of potable water supply, adequate sanitation and hygiene were primarily the responsibilities of state and local governments, he directed government at all levels to redouble efforts and work towards meeting the nation’s water supply and sanitation needs.

    He said available statistics on open defecation, access to pipe borne water services and sanitation in the country ‘’were disturbing’’.

    The President warned that henceforth, the Federal Government’s support to state would be based on their commitment to the implementation of the National Action Plan for Revitalisation  of the Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Sector in their respective state and plans to end open defecation by 2025.

    He lamented: “Access to pipe-borne water services, which was 32 per  cent in 1990, has declined to seven per cent in 2015; access to improved sanitation has also decreased from 38 per  cent in 1990 to 29 per  cent in 2015.

    “Our country now ranks No 2 in the global rating on Open Defecation as about 25 per  cent of our population are practicing open defecation.

    ‘’WASH services at the rural areas are unsustainable as 46 per cent of all water schemes are non-functional, and the share of our spending on WASH sector has been declining from 0.70 per cent of the GDP in 1990 to about 0.27  per cent in 2015, which is far below the 0.70 per cent at the West African regional level.”

    He added: “However, these are not being given the required attention judging from the high prevalence of water-borne diseases that are being reported in different parts of the country.

    ‘’We cannot and will not continue to allow these preventable occurrences to decimate our population…

    ‘’I call on all state governments to complement this effort by according the sector similar recognition to enable us work together to achieve the SDG targets for WASH by 2030.”

    Buhari assured that his administration would keep placing priority on infrastructure growth, including water supply, sanitation and hygiene services towards ensuring a better life for Nigerians.

    Minister of Water Resources Suleiman Adamu said open defecation reduced the dignity of a nation and has reduced school enrollment and attendance due to loss of time in search of water and frequent episodes of water and sanitation related illnesses as well as poor access to hygiene management facilities in schools.

    Deputy Country Representative of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Nigeria, Pernille Ironson, who spoke on behalf of development partners on WASH, said: “The Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Federal Ministry of Environment and state governments need to work together for all Nigerians to have clean water and sanitation.”

    Presently, the WASH programme is operational in six states of Imo, Abia, Delta, Taraba, Niger and Sokoto.