23 per cent of households in Nigeria practice open defecation, WaterAid reveals

RESEARCH has revealed that about 23.5 per cent of households in Nigeria lack befitting toilets thereby forcing them to practice open defecation which is contributing to disease morbidity and mortality.

This disclosure was made Tuesday by an Environmental Health expert with the College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, (OAU), Ile-Ife, Dr Aluko Olufemi during a stakeholders meeting organised by WaterAid Nigeria to review Bauchi State Government’s policy on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) held at Destination Hotel, Bauchi.

According to him, every eight seconds, a child dies as a result of a condition related to unsafe water, unclean domestic environments and improper ‘excreta’ disposal globally.

He noted further that the standards set by Nigerian National Water Supply and Sanitation Policy of 2000 stipulated that safe water should be located within a distance of 100 meters from the household residence is not being adhered to.

Aluko Olufemi lamented also that there is no proper inspection of water sources fetched by Nigerians or water vendors by governments at all levels to ensure that citizens consume potable water.

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“Sanitation is a basic human right and important foundation for health, economic and sustainable development and a key building block in environmental protection. The minimum quantity of water required daily is 30 to 120 litres per person,” he pointed out.

Earlier, the WaterAid WASH Technical Expert, Mr Adebayo Alawo explained that the NGO is providing technical support to the Bauchi State Government so that it could meet the global target of making WASH services available to every resident by the year 2030.

He then revealed that the meeting which had participants from private boreholes drillers, environmental solid waste collectors and water vendors was aimed at reviewing the state policy on water, sanitation and hygiene with a view to aligning with current realities and global challenges.