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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