…..North-Central tops with 47 per cent
The United Nations Children’s Fund says no fewer than 48 million Nigerians, representing 23 per cent of the country’s population, still defecate in open space.
Our correspondent reports that out of this number, the North-West geopolitical zone has 11 percent; North-East, 17 percent; North-Central, 47 percent; South-West, 24 percent; South-South, 23 percent; and South-East, also 23 percent.
The global agency’s North-East Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Manager, Mamita Bora Thakkar, made the announcement in Maiduguri, Friday, 17th November, at a news briefing preparatory to this year’s World Toilet Day celebration, which comes up, Sunday, November 19.
“With just seven years left to the 2030, Nigeria is alarmingly off track with regard achieving the SDGs on universal access to sanitation,” she warned.
“Only 104 out if the 774 LGAs in the country are open defecation-free,” Thakkar warned, stressing, “We need to accelerate our efforts at achieving the access to universal sanitation.”
The UNICEF official took a view of the global scene, disclosing, “Globally, there are 3.5 billion people living without safe toilets and 2.2 billion persons living without safe drinking water. 419 million people still go to the toilet in the open (‘open defecation’).”
“Progress towards universal sanitation is alarmingly off track, unevenly distributed between countries, and inadequate to eliminate the inequalities to ensure that the most vulnerable are reached.”
She said “With just seven years left, the world has to work, on average, five times faster to meet the sanitation target of SDG 6 – safe toilets and water for all by 2030 – on time.”
She described Sanitation and drinking water as human rights, adding that “access to these services is critical to people’s health and the integrity of the environment.”
She said the World Toilet Day is celebrated every year on November 19 to attract attention to the undeniable importance of safe and hygienic toilets.
