It has been lamented that 21% of the Bauchi State population still practises open defecation, while 72% of the total number of schools, 93% of the total number of healthcare facilities, and 97% of public places do not have access to basic WASH facilities, according to WASH National Outcome Routine Mapping (NORM) 2021.
The expression was made by the Chairman of the Bauchi State Network of Civil Society Organisations (BASNEC), Jinjiri John while addressing a press conference at the NUJ Press Centre, Bauchi on Friday to commemorate World Toilet Day 2023.
He said that the press conference was in recognition of the progress of WaterAid Nigeria and its partners towards achieving safer water communities, decent toilets, and motivating communities through hygiene behaviour change campaigns towards achieving an open defecation state and nation by 2025.
He stressed that despite evidence of the effectiveness of good hygiene practises as the first line of defence in the prevention of infectious diseases, about 60 million people in Nigeria lack access to basic water supplies, 167 million lack basic handwashing facilities, and 48 million still practise open defecation.
Jinjiri John added that globally, 70,000 children under 5 die every year from diseases caused by a lack of clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene services, saying that these statistics remain alarming as Nigeria still remains distant from achieving the SDG 6 goal of ensuring universal access to basic lifesaving services.
According to him, WaterAid Nigeria, in partnership with the Women Development Association for Self-Sustainability (WODASS), and the Bauchi State Government’s overall goal is to influence, deliver, and scale up WASH solutions that are sustainable, climate-resilient, gender-responsive, and address key cross-cutting elements of other development goals, including health, education, poverty, economic growth, and nutrition.
He stressed that, “By 2028, our ambition is to reach 10,000,000 people directly through our interventions with basic WASH services and behaviours. Working collaboratively with the government of Nigeria and other key partners in development, media, academia, the private sector, and the civil society space, we further seek to influence improved basic WASH access for 17,000,000 more people. (WaterAid)”
He further explained that WaterAid Nigeria is implementing Armani Beauty and L’Oreal Luxe Germany to provide the Water and Hygiene Promotion Project (WAHPP) in Bauchi State.
The project is designed to provide clean water and implement hygiene promotion activities in Bauchi State, specifically targeting at least 30 water-scarce communities in the state with limited access to clean water and poor hygiene practises, as well as provide access to safe water and hygiene education to 15,000 beneficiaries in 10 target communities within Bauchi State.
In commemoration of World Toilet Day 2023, WaterAid, in partnership with the Women Development Association (WODASS) is investing in the advocacy component of the Amarni project to advocate Bauchi stakeholders on the need to prioritise the provision of safe water, improving hygiene, and ending sanitation crises, especially the use and construction of decent toilets to improve the livelihood of the citizens of Bauchi state, which has an impact on health, education, and other multi-sector value in the state.
The project is in the process of providing water facilities in 15 communities of Tafawa Balewa LGA in the first phase; another 15 will be drilled in the second phase of the project next year, with a target to ensure that critical communities without access are reached.
The process also includes the triggering of communities through community-led total sanitation (CLTs), hygiene behaviour change (HBC), the formation of WASHcoms, and the training of volunteer hygiene promoters.
All these are to contribute to Bauchi State’s efforts towards attaining open defecation status by 2025. So far, the communities of Tapshin, Lere, Rugan Gambo, Luje, and Murantang have improved on the prioritisation of the construction and use of improved toilets and the utilisation of handwashing facilities, which has had positive impacts on their lives and have reduced the menace of the spread of infectious diseases.
Right now, there are 3.5 billion people still living without safe toilets, and 419 million people still practise ‘open defecation’. In these situations, diseases spread, killing 1,000 children under five every single day. This global crisis poses a threat to nature and everyone’s health, particularly women, girls, and other vulnerable groups.
“Your actions, however small, will help improve toilets and sanitation systems and protect nature. We are now counting down to 2030, with just seven years left to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6): safe toilets and water for all by 2030. Today, the world is seriously off track. We need to work five times faster on sanitation,” he stressed.
He further said that World Toilet Day 2023 is about accelerating change by doing whatever you can. Take action today, learn about the issues, and share the campaign with your networks.
BASNEC, therefore, recommended that On World Toilet Day, there should be encouragement for everyone to choose sanitation-related actions to speed up progress on this part of SDG 6 and break taboos: Talk about the critical connection between toilets, water, and menstruation.
There should also be flush safety by fixing leaking water and waste pipes, emptying full septic tanks, reporting dumping of sludge, and stopping pollution. Don’t put food waste, oils, medicines, and chemicals down the toilet or drain and build pressure. Write to elected representatives about budgets for improving water and sanitation at home, in the LGA, in the state, and abroad.
BASNEC, however, commended the efforts of the Bauchi State Government in supporting RUWASSA and other relevant stakeholders in ensuring that eight LGAs in the state have been validated and certified open defecation-free (ODF).
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