The United Nations on Monday in Abuja ranked
Nigeria among top five countries in the world with the largest number of people
defecating in the open.
The UN, which in its recent report, revealed that
34 million Nigerians defecate in the public, however, expressed optimism that
ending the unhealthy practice was possible.
The UNICEF Communication Specialist (Media and
External Relations) in Nigeria, Mr. Geoffrey Njoku, in a statement on the World
Toilet Day, said trends in the past five years allow for cautious optimism that
significant progress would be made in decreasing the number of people globally
who practise open defecation.
Quoting a joint UNICEF and World Health
Organisation report of 2012, Njoku said, “It is estimated that 34 million
Nigerians practise open defecation and Nigeria is amongst top five countries in
the world with largest number of people defecating in the open.”
According to him, in Nigeria, it is estimated
that diarrhoea kills about 194,000 children under five every year while
respiratory infections kill another 240,000.
“These are largely preventable with improvements
in water, sanitation and hygiene,” he stressed.
Globally, UNICEF is supporting 50 countries
including Nigeria to implement community approaches to total sanitation such as
Community-Led Total Sanitation aimed at empowering communities to identify
their sanitation challenges and take necessary actions to end open defecation.
He said, “CLTS aims to make all communities free
of open defecation by focusing on social and behaviour change and the use of
affordable, appropriate technologies.
“The emphasis is on the sustainable use of
sanitation facilities, rather than the construction of infrastructure, and the
approach depends on the engagement of members of the community ranging from
individuals, to schools, to traditional leaders. Communities use their own
capacities to attain their objectives and take a central role in planning and
implementing improved sanitation.”
The UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria,
Ibrahima Fall, said, “CLTS is simple and an effective way of improving
access to sanitation while also paving the way for their improved health.”
Meanwhile, a Non-Governmental Organisation,
WaterAid Nigeria, on Monday in Abuja stated that Nigeria had been losing about
N455bn annually due to poor sanitation and bad hygiene.
The organisation also said about 54 million
Nigerian women and girls did not have safe and adequate sanitation while 17
million of them did not have a toilet at all.
The Country Representative of WAN, Mr. Michael
Ojo, and Head of Governance, Tolani Busari, at a press briefing on the World Toilet
Day, however, said the crisis could be solved.
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