UNICEF Urges Action to Improve Toilet Access for Borno Residents

By Kasim Isa Muhammad
Kanempress News
19th November 2024

UNICEF’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Manager, Jamita Bora Thakkar, has revealed that 53% of Borno State residents have access to basic latrines. Despite this progress, 47% of the population remains without access to adequate sanitation, exposing them to risks such as unsafe waste disposal, cholera outbreaks, and other water-borne diseases.

Speaking at a media parley organised at UNICEF’s Field Office in Maiduguri on Monday, Thakkar underscored the significance of sanitation in line with this year’s World Toilet Day, themed “Toilets – A Place for Peace.” She stated, “Sanitation remains an unfinished agenda. Progress towards universal sanitation is alarmingly off track, uneven across regions, and inadequate to address inequalities, particularly for vulnerable communities.”

She highlighted the global challenges of sanitation, citing that 3.5 billion people lack access to safe toilets, while 2.2 billion live without safe drinking water. Furthermore, 419 million individuals still practice open defecation worldwide – a figure that mirrors local realities.

Thakkar also stressed the broader implications of poor sanitation, noting its detrimental effects on public health, productivity, education, and environmental sustainability. “Open defecation erodes physical health, disrupts school attendance, hampers productivity, and diminishes overall quality of life. These issues permeate communal settings such as schools, markets, and healthcare facilities,” she noted.

Recognising the ticking clock toward the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), she urged immediate action, stating, “With six years left, the window to achieve SDG 6 on water and sanitation for all is rapidly closing. The time for decisive action is now.”

Thakkar commended the Borno State Government’s commitment to improving sanitation, particularly its launch of a roadmap to eliminate open defecation. She applauded efforts to make two Local Government Areas (LGAs) open defecation-free and the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee on WASH.

UNICEF pledged to continue collaborating with the state government to expand these gains across all LGAs, aiming to ensure universal access to sanitation and hygiene services. Thakkar concluded by emphasising the disproportionate impact of poor sanitation on women and girls, reiterating the need for sustainable infrastructure and policy interventions.

As Borno State makes strides in sanitation, UNICEF’s call to action serves as a timely reminder of the urgency required to address these gaps for a healthier and more sustainable future.

Furthermore, according to the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Abuja, the government of Nigeria has reiterated its commitment to eliminating open defecation nationwide by 2025, aligning with the revised global target established by the United Nations.

To achieve this ambitious goal, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR) tasked UNICEF Nigeria with developing a strategic roadmap to make the country open-defecation-free within the stipulated timeframe.

Currently, approximately 46 million Nigerians engage in open defecation, and this figure is projected to rise by an additional 56 million in the next decade. This means that by 2025, about 102 million people, equivalent to 20 million households, will require access to toilets. Additionally, sanitation facilities must be installed at various public institutions, including schools, healthcare centres, market spaces, and religious sites, to ensure complete eradication of open defecation.

The detrimental effects of open defecation are well-documented. According to the World Bank (2012), approximately 122,000 Nigerians die annually from diarrhoea, with 87,000 being children under five, largely due to poor water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions.

Improved sanitation could reduce diarrhoeal cases by 36%, as evidenced by a comprehensive review of 21 international studies. Furthermore, unhygienic environments are significant contributors to malnutrition, with nearly 37% of Nigerian children under five stunted, 18% wasted, and 29% underweight, as per the 2013 National Demographic and Health Survey.

Beyond health concerns, open defecation exacerbates gender-based violence and social inequalities. A WaterAid study in Lagos revealed that a quarter of women defecating in the open reported incidents of harassment or violence. Poor sanitation also contributes to iron deficiency anaemia in adolescent girls and mothers, resulting in low-birth-weight babies and heightened risks for maternal and infant mortality.

Economically, the costs of poor sanitation are staggering. Nigeria loses an estimated NGN 455 billion annually due to inadequate sanitation, with open defecation accounting for over US$ 1 billion. However, the sanitation sector presents significant economic opportunities, as the demand for materials and labour to build toilets for 46 million individuals could generate over NGN 1.25 trillion.

The roadmap, outlined by UNICEF, proposes multifaceted strategies to address the challenge, including the promotion of low-cost sanitation technologies, targeted social marketing, and improved public infrastructure. It also includes a phased timeline for implementation: transition (2016–2017), assessment (2018), consolidation (2019–2021), self-evaluation (2022), and an intensified final push (2023–2025). Key annual targets include providing toilets to millions, with a cumulative aim of covering over 102 million people by 2025.

The success of this initiative depends on creating an enabling environment, bolstered by strong political will, robust legal frameworks, strategic investment plans, and collaboration between stakeholders, including NGOs, civil society, and the private sector.

Estimated costs for achieving this goal total NGN 959 billion, with households covering NGN 725 billion, and the government investing NGN 234 billion over a decade. Considering the NGN 455 billion annual losses due to poor sanitation, the investment is deemed economically viable, with the potential for substantial returns.