Nigeria needs N2.88 trillion annually to make clean water accessible to citizens - UNICEF

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- N2.88 trillion is needed annually to make portable water accessible to all Nigerians, UNICEF has said

- The international agency said 25% of the Nigerian population still practise open defecation

- Lai Mohammed also said the federal government is committed to ending open defecation in Nigeria

The federal government has promised to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2030, the minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, said on Tuesday, March 13.

Mohammed said the federal government in collaboration with state governments is working to endure that Nigerians practise safe and healthy defecation across the country.

Speaking during a media dialogue on water supply and sanitation sector reform project workshop, organized by the federal ministry of information in conjunction with UNICEF Nigeria in Jos, Plateau state capital city, Mohammed said efforts must be doubled to ensure an end to open defecation.

Representative by the deputy director at the ministry, Olumide Osanyinpeju, the minister described open defecation is "incredibly dangerous".

He said: "Open defecation is incredibly dangerous, as contact with human waste can cause diseases such as cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, diarrhoea, worm infestation and under nutrition. We must double our current efforts in order to end open defecation by 2030."

Decrying the effect of open defecation and lack of access to portable water across Nigeria, Osanyinpeju said: "Without water, children cannot stay alive in any environment they live in."

He also urged the general public and the media to become involved in issues of good hygiene and abhor health endangering practises.

"Good hygiene practices reduces the risk of all these water-borne disease," Mohammed.

Also speaking, the chief of Water and Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for UNICEF Nigeria, Zaid Jurji, said sanitation is the responsibility of every household.

Jurji said that 88% of diseases like diarrhea are as a result of WASH practises that did not meet the standard.

Noting that the number of Nigerians who lack access to portable water is half the population of Canada, Jurji said $8 million (N2.88 billion) is need annually to make clean water available to Nigerians.

The UNICEF chief of WASH said it is important for Nigerian government at all level to commit to investing in water and sanitation as 25% of the countries population practise open defecation.

He added that for Nigeria to attain Open Defecation Free (ODF) status, UNICEF in partnership with the federal ministry of water Resources will begin a campaign to enlighten Nigerians on the importance of WASH standard practises.

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NAIJ.com earlier that the federal government had announced that 46 million Nigerians indulge in open defecation.

The minister of water resources, Suleiman Adamu, during the official celebration of local government wide open defecation status by Dass local government area, Bauchi said, over two third of the Nigerian population lacked access to basic sanitation facilities.

Adamu also said that the federal government has made efforts to address the situation in the past but were met with little or absolutely no results in some cases.

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