Nigeria loses N455bn annually to open defecation – UNICEF
By Doosuur Iwambe, Abuja
Nigeria loses over N455 billion of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually due to poor sanitation and a third of that cost is as a result of open defecation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said.
According to the international body, Nigeria needs to add two million toilets every year between 2019 and 2025 to achieve the target of universal basic sanitation.
Speaking during a two – day media dialogue on sanitation and use the toilet campaign organised by Clean Nigeria in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information, UNICEF and supported by the European Union, UKaid in Ibadan, Oyo state, UNICEF Water and Sanitation specialist, Bioye Ogunjobi said that about 16 million people in the north central region practise open defecation.
This figure from the north east according to the sanitation specialist, is out of the 47 million people that openly defecate in Nigeria.
While lamenting that about 90 per cent of households use contaminated water, Ogunjobi said it is saddening that over 32 million Nigerians do not have access to improved toilets, stressing the need for political will to achieve the 2025 target of making Nigeria open defecation free.
“More than 100, 000 children under the age of five years die each year due to diarrhoea of which 90 per cent is directly attributed to the use of unsafe water and sanitation. Nigeria is the second country with the highest children’s death due to diarrhoea.
“Currently, only 13 local government areas from four states of Bauchi, Benue, Cross River and Jigawa are open defecation free. We have to mobilize the entire country, otherwise the 2025 target will not be possible,” Ogunjobi added.
He stated that Nigeria’s 12 million stunted children and two million acute malnourished children are all as a result of bad sanitation system in Nigeria.
Earlier, the Deputy Director, Head, Child Rights Information Bureau, Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Olumide Osanyinpeju, while calling for collaboration to discourage open defecation lamented that it is a dangerous habit that promotes the spread of diseases and poverty.
He commended UNICEF and European Union for being in the forefront of ensuring that Nigerians have access to safe drinking water supply, adequate sanitation and proper hygiene in their environment and communities even as he stressed the need to double the current efforts to end open defecation by 2030.
“Sanitation is essential to the survival and development of children. It can reduce the severity and impact of malnutrition. It can also help in reducing the spread of intestinal worms, as well as promoting dignity and boosting safety, particularly among women and children.
“Sanitation standards are intended to ensure that people do not suffer adverse health effects that can result if toilets are not available when needed. Proper sanitation facilities promote health because it allows people dispose off their waste appropriately,” Osanyinpeju added.
Daily Times recalls that the partnership for expanded water, sanitation and hygiene programme was formulated and launched in 2016 with the aim of achieving 100 per cent coverage in rural areas.
