The Nation Newspaper

Tag: sanitation

  • Brewery, NGO unveil community water and sanitation projects

    Brewery, NGO unveil community water and sanitation projects

    Guinness Nigeria Plc, a subsidiary of Diageo, has partnered a non governmental organisation (NGO), Concern Universal, to pioneer sustainable method of integrating rural sanitation and hygiene promotion with access to safe water. This novel approach, which strengthens the 10 year-old Diageo Water of Life project, is being implemented by Concern Universal in 10 communities across three local government areas of Cross River State.

    Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, coupled with poor hygiene practices, are responsible for the spread of deadly, but preventable, diseases such as diarrhoea, cholera, and typhoid.

    In Nigeria, where a quarter of the population defecates in the open, over 150,000 children under the age of five die yearly from diarrhoea alone. Together, improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) are responsible for preventing up to 90 per cent of diarrhoeal diseases.

    Guinness Nigeria Plc Corporate Relations Director,  Sesan Sobowale said: “Guinness Nigeria recognises that millions of people still do not have access to clean and safe water. One in five persons around the world cannot access safe drinking water; and in Nigeria, 63 million people do not have access to clean water. This is why Guinness Nigeria and the Diageo Foundation teamed up with Concern Universal to provide clean water for rural communities in Cross River State. Our partnership leverages our collective strengths to help beneficiary communities improve their water, sanitation, and hygiene, and ultimately, their health.”

    Guinness Nigeria’s partnership with Concern Universal supports the Rural Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion in Nigeria (RUSHPIN) programme by providing access to safe water in villages that have achieved open defecation-free status in Cross River State.

    Committee members are also facilitated to develop their own water management plans, including financing future repairs and conserving water during drier seasons.

    Concern Universal’s Country Director, Tim Kellow, explained how “this approach, which carefully sequences demand-led sanitation and hygiene behaviour change with participatory water management, is creating a model for the WASH sector, in Nigeria and beyond, to ensure that the introduction of water points works in tandem with sanitation and hygiene promotion to prevent killer diseases, such as diarrhoea”.

    Sustainable Development Manager, Guinness Nigeria, Osita Abana, while remarking on the project’s impact in Cross River State said: “During my visit to beneficiary communities, I was inspired to see first hand, the positive impact the Guinness/Concern Universal partnership is already making. Families, who used to fetch water from streams, now have easy access to clean water. Communities have also adopted proper hygiene habits that will limit the spread of preventable diseases like diarrhoea and cholera.”

    Through the partnership’s pilot project, Guinness Nigeria and Concern Universal have helped 6,000 people in 10 communities to access safe drinking water. In addition, 120 community members have been trained in basic borehole maintenance and water resource management.

  • Ganduje and environmental sanitation

    SIR: Immediately Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano State was sworn in, his first official assignment was to flag-off his environmental sanitation programme under the tag ‘Keep Kano Clean’. The programme ran through the whole of June. During the operation, the governor promised to make Kano clean always to the delight of the Kano citizens and also to employ more environmental health workers, precisely women for more thorough sanitary inspection of residential premises.

    I will encourage the governor to go further as environmental health (the way many politicians, administrators and even many health workers look at it), is beyond just getting rid of waste and refuse off the environment; it is the major driving force of public health practice globally.

    Environmental health is basis of public health practice that is concerned with the technologies of promoting health, preventing disease, and prolonging life through well-organized integrated environmental interventions based on community participation, institutional efforts/support, and integrated research. It has components, like Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), epidemiological investigation and control, water resources management and sanitation, environmental health control of housing and sanitation, food hygiene and safety, environmental health impact assessment, among others.

    Considering the importance of Kano as a centre of commerce and politics, there is a need for the governor to look at all the components areas with vigour and determination.

    The government should domesticate some national policy guidelines like national policy on injection safety and healthcare waste management; policy guidelines on excreta and sewage management; policy guidelines on pest and vector control; policy guidelines on market and abattoir sanitation; policy guidelines on school sanitation; policy guidelines on sanitary inspection of premises; policy guidelines on solid waste management; and policy guidelines on environmental sanitation.

    The fulcrum of these should be the amendment of Public Health Edict No 4, of 1985 to be in tune with the current trends as its affect Kano State for the smooth implementation of these activities.

    I dare say if the governor gives maximum attention to environmental health accordingly, which is the norm in the countries that value their health, and its practitioners reciprocate the gesture, 70% of disease burden in the state will be controlled and prevented, for our health problems are environmentally based.

    I wish the new governor the best as he leads Kano to greater height.

     

    • Mohammed Sani Garba ,

    New Hospital Road, Gyadi-Gyadi, Kano.

  • Sanitation holds in Lagos tomorrow

    This month’s environmental sanitation will hold tomorrow between 7am and 10am. There will be restriction, according to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of the Environment, Hakeem Ogunbambi, an engineer, advised residents to participate in the exercise, which was not held last month, because of the inauguration of the president and some governors.

    While stressing the importance of a clean and hygienic environment towards the promotion of tourism and economic potentials of the state, Ogunbambi urged Lagosians to actively participate in the cleaning of their homes, drains and totality of their environment.

    He further stated that apart from this monthly exercise, cleaning the environment should be a daily affair, stressing that human beings daily generate waste which must be daily disposed. “We should also be mindful of our drains as we are now in the peak of the rainy season,” he added.

    He emphasised that global climatic condition have continuously affected rainfall patterns across the world as such coastal cities like Lagos are prone to flooding. “This explains why we have intensified our mid-rain deflooding programme that consists of continuous dredging, cleaning and maintenance of drainage channels across the state,” the Permanent Secretary explained.

    He implored residents to desist from dumping waste inside drainage channels and shun acts compromising drainage alignment, such as erection of structures on drainage setbacks among others.

    Ogunbambi warned residents who still patronise cart pushers to desist from the illegal act, saying that it is inimical to the waste management policy of the state government.

  • ‘Boost access to water, sanitation’

    The Head of Governance, WaterAid Nigeria, Tolani Busari, has called on governments at all levels to put policies in place that will enable all Nigerians access Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

    She  said  in Abuja   that it was  necessary to close the inequality gap between the rich and the poor to enable Nigerians access water and sanitation.

    She stressed the need for Nigeria to put policies in place for implementing the incoming Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which would become effective from September.

    “Nigeria was yet to address the problem of poor sanitation; the new government needs to put policies in place to address this challenge.

    “Inequality gaps to accessing water and sanitation is wide, this is because the difference between the rich and the poor is also very wide.

    “It is, however, necessary for all stakeholders to address this issue, to enable all Nigerians live productive lives,” he said.

    Busari said it was worthy to note that no fewer than 100 million people lack access to basic sanitation, adding that 16 million of them also lack access to water.

    She explained that this was the cause of nearly 100,000 children under five deaths, from preventable causes, such as diarrhoea, cholera among others.

    She expressed concerns over how government was handling sanitation, arguing that the nation’s poor handling of sanitation issues is not just restricted to hygiene.

    “Without a private toilet, women and girls are vulnerable to violence, intimidation and indignity.

    “Women and girls living in Nigeria without toilet facilities spend about 3.1 billion hours each year finding a place to go to toilet in the open.

    “Sanitation has always been the most neglected and off-track of the MDGs, with little funding, resources or political will to address the crisis.”

    The head of governance said little progress has been recorded towards the agreed target of allocating 0.5 per cent of GDP to sanitation.

    She said all stakeholders must begin to see access to sanitation and water as fundamental human rights, saying that it was possible for everyone to own a toilet and a means of hygiene.

    Busari said it was also for all stakeholders to address the underlying causes of inequality, adding that this would go a long way to make Nigeria an inclusive society.

    She also urged community members to take ownership of their hygiene, saying sanitation starts with the individual before reflecting in the society.

    On WaterAid’s activities, Busari said the group was working with the government to scale up access to water, sanitation and hygiene in all parts of the country.

     

  • Improving access to water, sanitation

    Improving access to water, sanitation

    “We normally trek about one hour to neighbouring communities that have boreholes to get water for our daily needs.

    “When our female children are having their menstrual period, many of them don’t go to school because there is no water for them to clean themselves properly,” says Mrs Celestina Ani, a resident of Umachi community in Igboeze North Local Government Area of Enugu State.

    Corroborating the woman’s claims, UNICEF says that the lack of safe, separate and private sanitation and washing facilities in schools is one of the factors preventing girls from attending school, particularly when they are menstruating.

    The report says women and girls pay the heaviest price for poor sanitation of communities, adding that shortage of water particularly affects the sanitation of several households.

    This is because the people’s access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is certainly critical to the socio-economic development of any community.

    The significance of WASH in communities was exposed vividly during a tour of some communities in Igboeze North Local Government Area in Enugu State by some journalists, under the aegis of WaterAid Nigeria.

    WaterAid is an international organisation that promotes healthy living in communities across the world via improved access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

    In Nigeria, the agency operates in over 200 communities in six focal states – Bauchi, Benue, Ekiti, Enugu, Jigawa and Plateau.

    Chief Moses Abugu, a community leader who spoke on behalf of the traditional ruler of Umachi community, Igwe Louis Umoro, said that there were three cholera-induced deaths in the community this year.

    “We used to have old boreholes but they are no longer functioning.

    “In this community, we are mostly palm-wine tappers, farmers and `Okada’ (motorcycle) riders. We do not have electricity and good roads.

    “The government should come to our aid and if they do, we promise to employ the services of our youths to guard and maintain the equipment,’’ Abugu said.

    Another community member, Mr Benedict Ali, said: “We don’t have water; some of us buy water from water tankers that come here twice in a week.

    “About three families can come together and contribute money to buy a full water tanker load, which costs about N7, 000 to N10,000, and then share it accordingly,’’ he said.

    Ali also bemoaned the bad state of the roads in the neighbourhood, which often frustrated water tankers to get into the community, describing it as a major challenge facing efforts to get water for the community’s use.

    During a visit to Ekposhi community, also in Igboeze North Local Government Area of the state, the residents lamented about the rise in water-borne diseases due to the dearth of pipe-borne water.

    Mr. Basil Onuh, a community member, said that the lack of pipe-borne water in the community had also encouraged open defecation in the area.

    “Sometimes, when we go to the bush to defecate, we are often attacked by dangerous snakes and scorpions. Recently, we dug a pit where we can store water during rainfall.

    “Some of us have contracted different kinds of diseases through this practice and we wish it could stop. This has also affected our livelihoods because we cannot water our crops during the dry season,’’ he said.

    Mrs. Helen Urama, who sells “Okpa’’ (a variety of bean cake), said: “it’s only when we have money to buy water that our children go to school. I get the water which I use in cooking my `Okpa’ anywhere I can get it.’’

    Two teachers at the local primary schools, Mr. Saliru Idoko and Mr. Isaac Ossai, said that some of the schools in the community did not have toilets, thereby forcing the pupils to engage in open defecation.

    “Even though every family has been mandated to build pit toilets in our community, we still contract different kinds of infections,’’ said Mrs. Ngozi Idoko, a resident of Ekposhi community.

    “We plead with the federal and state governments to give us water so as to improve our standard of living.’’

    Mr. Samuel Ome, the Chairman of the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), said that it was sad that open defecation still remained a big challenge across the country.

    He stressed that many urban settlements even lacked basic hygiene facilities, thereby resulting in open defecation, which posed a threat to life, as feces were often washed into drinking water sources, thereby contaminating the water.

    He underscored the need for Nigerians to cultivate clean habits, stressing that the people should always strive to exhibit good personal hygiene.

    “Sanitation starts with the individual, those things you do involuntarily become your attitude.

    “You wake up in the morning, you use the toilet, you flush the toilet, you brush your teeth, you wash your body before going to work; nobody prompts you to do it, you do it voluntarily.

    “The garbage you bring out must be disposed of properly, so sanitation has a huge role to play in the household, the community and the nation,’’ he said.

    Ome said that the government was doing a lot to improve the people’s access to sanitation, adding, however, that access to basic sanitation in Nigeria still stood at 41 per cent.

    Saying that water was important to the development of a nation and individuals, Ome said that 70 per cent of the ailments affecting the people were water-related.

    He noted that cholera usually affected persons living in unhygienic environments or those who drank contaminated water.

    Ime, however, called on all Nigerians to cultivate the habit of hand-washing so as to avoid contracting water-borne diseases, while reducing unnecessary deaths.

    “As you engage in your daily activities, you wash hands before you eat your food or after shaking hands.

    “You can wash your hands up to four times in the office in order to improve your hygiene and minimise the risks of contracting communicable diseases.

    “Washing your hands with soap or ashes in running water also helps to break the transmission of water-borne diseases,” he added.

    Also speaking, Mr. Saheed Mustapha, Policy and Partnership Advisor, WaterAid, said that 90 per cent of diarrhoea cases in Nigeria were caused by the poor Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) culture of the people.

    He said that WASH was central to every aspect of human existence, adding that problems associated with inadequate water and sanitation had a greater impact on the society.

    “Almost 90 per cent of diarrhoea cases are caused by poor unsafe water and sanitation practices; water is life, we need to go beyond this level to improve the lives of Nigerians.

    “Time-consuming water collection greatly contributes to poverty; access to safe water and sanitation facilities frees up valuable time that could be used for income-generating activities,’’ he said.

    Mustapha noted that sanitation had become “a silent and neglected crisis’’, saying that more than 2.5 billion people lacked access to basic sanitation globally.

    The WaterAid official quoted the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring 2014 report as saying that nearly 40 million Nigerians practised open defecation due to their lack of access to basic water and sanitation facilities.

    He stressed that need to promote the hand-washing culture, as part of efforts to reduce preventable deaths, saying that children under the age of five were largely affected.

    Mustapha also said that all the stakeholders ought to increase their investments in efforts to ensure that all public institutions, especially schools and markets, had inclusive, safe water and sanitation facilities.

    He solicited the inclusion of a provision on basic sanitation in any poverty alleviation programme, saying that Nigeria lost about N455 billion annually to deaths caused by poor sanitation.

    In all, experts underscore the need for the government and the people of Nigeria to show more commitment in efforts to reduce the incidence of water-related disease in the country.

     

     

  • Lagos appeals verdict on sanitation day restriction

    Lagos State has appealed the Federal High Court judgment which held that the restriction of movement during the monthly environmental sanitation is illegal.

    Justice Mohammed Idris delivered the judgment on Monday in a suit by activist-lawyer Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa

    The judge held that the policy of keeping citizens indoors in the name of sanitation has no legal backing.

    “I must state loud and clear that the environmental sanitation exercise is not in itself unlawful, but what is unlawful and unconstitutional is the restriction imposed by the respondents during the exercise,” the judge said.

    But in a Notice of Appeal, Lagos said Justice Idris “erred in law” on three grounds.

    The appellants are Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN), the Attorney-General, Mr Ade Ipaye, the Commissioner for the Environment and the Ministry of Environment.

    The first ground of appeal is that the Federal High Court’s jurisdiction is limited to those matters provided for in Section 251 of the 1999 Constitution.

    “The subject of the application being environmental sanitation in Lagos State as prescribed by the Environmental Sanitation Law of Lagos State is not within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to adjudicate,” the state said.

    The appellants said Justice Idris was wrong to hold that restriction of movement from 7am to 10am contravenes Sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantee personal liberty and freedom of movement.

    “By virtue of Section 45…, fundamental rights provisions may be derogated from by a law that is reasonably justified in a democratic society in the interest of public health.

    “The Environmental Sanitation Law of Lagos State is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society in the interest of public health and therefore valid,” the appellants said.

    Their third ground of appeal is that the judge failed to consider other sections of the Constitution, such as 24 (d), 34 (2) (e) (i) and 45 which impose civic obligations on citizens, before arriving at his judgment.

    “The above provisions of the Constitution and the law of Lagos State provide for performance of normal communal or civic obligation for the well-being of the community.

    “The public health of the community, therefore, overrides the personal interest or rights of the applicant,” the state said.

    The appellants are seeking an order allowing the appeal and striking out Adegboruwa’s suit for lack of jurisdiction or dismissing it on its merit.

     

  • Movement restriction on sanitation day illegal, says court

    THE restriction of movement during the monthly environmental sanitation is illegal, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos held yesterday.

    Delivering judgment on a suit by activist lawyer Ebunolu Adegboruwa challenging the movement restriction during the exercise, Justice Mohammed Idris said it grossly violates Nigerians’ right to freedom of movement as guaranteed in the Constitution.

    The lawyer sought a declaration that the restriction on the last Saturday of every month, constitutes a breach of residents’ rights because no law in Lagos State approves their compulsory detention at home for three hours (7am – 10am) for the purpose of observing a mandatory sanitation.

    Inspector-General of Police Suleiman Abba, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, Attorney-General Mr Ade Ipaye; Commissioner for the Environment and his ministry were the respondents.

    Justice Idris held that the policy of keeping citizens indoors, in the name of sanitation, has no basis on law.

    According to him, it is nowhere stated in Section 39 of the Environmental Sanitation Law that the commissioner can make regulation barring people from moving about during sanitation exercise.

    “There is no law in Lagos barring or restricting the movement of people during environmental sanitation and no such law has been shown to the court,” the judge said.

    He said the restriction is “unjustifiable and a gross infringement on the applicant’s personal liberty.”

    Justice Idris said: “I have no doubt that the restriction imposed on the movement of persons and sanctions meted out to those who breach them are clearly unsupportable in law and unjustified.

    “I must state loud and clear that the environmental sanitation exercise is not in itself unlawful, but what is unlawful and unconstitutional is the restriction imposed by the respondents during the exercise.

    “The restriction will only be lawful and constitutional when they are made by law duly enacted within the limits imposed by the Constitution itself.

    “In view of all I have stated above and in the light of the provisions of the various judicial and statutory authorities, I hold that the rights of the applicant guaranteed under Sections 35 and 41 of the Constitution have been infringed upon by the respondents.

    “The applicant is entitled to all of the reliefs sought and they are granted as prayed.”

    Speaking after the verdict, Adegboruwa hailed the judge for his forthrightness, courage and boldness.

    The verdict, he said, has settled beyond doubt that the judiciary is the last hope of the common man.

    He said: “It is a signal to all those in power, across the land, local, state and federal, that the rule of arbitrariness, of impunity and of wanton disregard for peoples’ rights and freedoms is gradually coming to an end.

    “When we dare to struggle, then we dare to win. I, therefore, urge all Nigerians to troop to the courts, to challenge the unchallengeable, to kick against the arbitrary PHCN impositions, all illegal charges and tax imposition and all obnoxious policies wickedly devised by all our rulers. Together we shall win.”

    Lagos State argued that Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution permits it to make laws that affect the right to freedom of movement.

    The law, it said, vests the Commissioner for the Environment with powers to make regulations for ensuring a clean environment and public safety.

  • Sanitation tomorrow

    Lagosians have been urged to de-silt drainage channels within their neighbourhood and dispose the backlog of refuse during tomorrow’s environmental sanitation billed to hold between 7am and 10am.

    Commissioner for Environment Tunji Bello, who gave the advice, reminded residents of the need to have a flood-free Lagos during the rainy season.

    In a statement by the Information Director, Fola Adeyemi, Bello said the restriction on pedestrian and vehicular movements will be enforced to ensure compliance.

    The commissioner urged the transport unions to prevail on their members to comply with the state environmental laws.

    The restriction order was not enforced in January to enable Lagosians collect their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) at the designated centres.

    According to him, a combined team of officers from the police and officials of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA),  Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), thederal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) Brigade have been mobilised to make tomorrow’s sanitation effective.

  • Sanitation tomorrow in Lagos

    The Lagos State Government has urged Lagosians to participate in tomorrow’s monthly environmental sanitation exercise and ensure that the gains recorded during past exercises are sustained.

    Commissioner for Environment Tunji Bello said: “We call on residents to complement government’s efforts by cleaning drains/gutters in their surroundings regularly and not only on monthly environmental sanitation days.”

    He emphasised that the restriction of human/vehicular movement between 7am and 10am will be fully enforced and advised all vehicles and passengers to obey the order or risk facing prosecution according to the state environmental sanitation laws.

  • World Bank, others okay $638m for water, sanitation

    • As minister charges states on collaborative effort

    The World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), French Development Agency (FDA), and Japan International Corporation Agency (JICA), have said it will support Nigeria with $638million new financial commitment to boost water supply and sanitation in the country.

    The Country Directors of each of the donor agencies announced the new financial commitment in Abuja during a two day workshop with the theme: “Strengthening the Implementation of Urban Water Sector Reform in Nigeria.”

    The World Bank Country Director, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly disclosed that the bank had provided a support bank financing of $250million for the third phase of water sector reform in Bauchi, Rivers, Ekiti, and Cross River state.

    She said the lack of access to water and sanitation in Nigeria was not acceptable, adding that women spend months looking for safe drinking water.

    The Deputy Country Director AfDB, Mrs. Babara Barungi said the bank was providing a finance facility of $205million to boost water supply and sanitation in Rivers State, adding that the bank have Invested $760million in the sector since 1986.

    She called for improved financial management in states where the projects are located.

    The French Development Agency (AFD) Country Director, Hubert Dogin said the agency will assist Ogun State with $33million in its Urban Water Reform Project.

    He said the funds will assist the World Bank investment in its third phase programme to increase access to water, sanitation.

    The JICA country Director, Seki Tetsuo said the Agency is approving $150million on development of water facilities.

    He said JICA was working towards building capacities of State Water Board Agencies to improve the provision of utilities to consumers.

    In her response, the Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe said despite the intervention of the donor agencies, the states were not doing well in implementing the urban water sector reform.

    She urged governors of benefiting states to give support and create enabling environment for the project to thrive.