As WaterAid resolves to transform poor rural hygieneBy Gabriel Ewepu – Abuja As environmental health remains at the lowest ebb in most parts of Nigeria, the Federal Government, Tuesday, commended WaterAid Nigeria and the National Water Research Institute, NWRI, over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, to tackle rural hygiene challenges by boosting Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene, WASH, programme.
The commendation was made by the Minister of Water Resource, Engr Suleiman Adamu, during the MoU signing between the two organisations held at the headquarters of the Ministry.
Adamu described the signing as a very important milestone and expressed optimism over the move by WaterAid Nigeria for its effort to improve sanitation, water, and hygiene of Nigerians.
READ ALSO: WaterAid calls on FG to prioritise hygiene in healthcare facilitiesHe said: “The signing of this MoU is a very important milestone. So, this arrangement between the Institute and WaterAid Nigeria also has its own significance because we are going to the root of the problem.
“The challenge has gone beyond teaching students the basics to get to the nitty-gritty, and this idea of developing a curriculum, capacity building career on sanitation I think is very important.
“Breaking it down for students for them to learn and our WASH in the Local Government area will also have opportunities for basic training in due course and how to manage sanitation since we are doing very badly in this sub-sector. I think every effort being made is welcomed.
“I hope that activities under this MoU will further strengthen all the efforts you (WaterAid Nigeria) are making.”
He also highlighted some of the efforts and impacts made by the Ministry under his leadership, “What is exciting with my work these days is the WASH things because it has such a huge potential or impact and we are beginning to see that impact although slowly but things are happening when you look at the statistics on WASH reports in 2019 compared to 2018, and the giant strides we have made in the last two, three years with the ODF that is the Open Defecation Free in one local government in 2017 to 61 as of last week.
“Even though the process is slow is still significant and at least you can see that we are moving in the right direction.”
Meanwhile, the Minister disclosed that, “Last week, the World Bank committed $700 million to Sustainable Avenue WASH in the Country, and we call the programme SA-WASH, and hopefully we see impact at least in six or more states that would benefit from this World Bank facility all is geared towards improving WASH.
“WaterAid is very much involved in Sanitation and Water for All. Last year our Finance Minister was involved in the launching of the Handbook to Finance Ministers on financing WASH.
“So we are everywhere as far as our WASH institutes are concerned. We have strengthened our inter-ministerial relationship with other ministries.”
In an address, the Country Director, WaterAid Nigeria, Evelyn Mere, made it known that the MoU signing with NWRI formalizes their partnership, and recalled that three years ago the Federal Government declared a state of emergency in the water, sanitation, and hygiene sector and also launched a National Action Plan to revitalize the sector.
Mere said: “Last year, at the World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden, WaterAid entered into a partnership with the Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Water Resources, to provide technical assistance and capacity strengthening support to stimulate sector actors towards achieving the longer term goals of the National Action Plan-which are to ensure universal access to sustainable and safely managed WASH services for Nigerian by 2030 and to institutionalize the enabling environment required to support the effective and sustainable management of Nigeria’s WASH services.
“That commitment has influenced and informed our strategy and approach in working with the Federal Government and it has also led us here to this moment.”
She also added that the partnership with NWRI would combine the WASH expertise of WaterAid and the training expertise of the NWRI contribute to bridging knowledge and capacity gaps for the delivery of equitable sustainable total sanitation at scale in the country.
Mere said that the MoU aims to promote learning and capacity building on rural sanitation in Nigeria, and also run short courses on the rethinking rural sanitation guide.
“The 4-year project will review and integrate the emerging framework for rural sanitation promotion in Nigeria and integrate learning from WaterAid’s implementation of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Funded Sustainable Total Sanitation project with the Rethinking Rural Sanitation Guidelines to develop and deliver the modules and certified short courses on the RIRS and STS emerging framework training guides”, she stated.
However, expressing concern over the hygiene status of the country she said, “In spite of slight progress nationally, Nigeria ranks first among countries globally with the highest population of people defecation in the open and we still have 112 million without access to basic sanitation.
“This abysmal state of sanitation has adverse effects on health, livelihoods, education, gender equality, and socio-economic development.”
Vanguard News Nigeria
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