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From Charity Nwakaudu Abuja
Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Professor Joseph Utsev has lamented that Nigeria loses not less than three billion dollars annually to open defecation and unsafe environmental practices.
The Minister who made this known at the National Safely Managed Sanitation Workshop in Abuja, yesterday stressed that the country cannot afford to continue losing billions of dollars annually to open defecation.
According to him, Nigeria has pledged to triple its efforts towards achieving sustainable and safely managed sanitation, with a target of becoming open defecation free by 2025.
The Minister therefore emphasized on the crucial role of sustainable and safely managed sanitation in national well-being, wealth, and economic growth.
While expressing concern over Nigeria’s efforts in achieving the 2030 WASH agenda, Professor Utsev called for collective strategies to ensure that the country attains a safely managed sanitation service by 2025.
Asserting that safely managed sanitation is a right for all Nigerians, Professor Utsev stressed that the country cannot afford to continue losing billions of dollars annually to open defecation.
He reiterated the federal government’s commitment to intensify existing efforts for a comprehensive and effective sanitation system.
‘’With only six years to SGDs targe state of 2030, progress on achieving the global SDGs sanitation targets of safely managed sanitation services is offtrack. Achieving the SDGs 6.2 target will therefore require us to make five times the current progress and triple our investment in the sanitation sector. The federal government of Nigeria is committed to the actualization of the SDGs 6 target for sanitation.’’
Earlier in her opening remarks, the Director water quality control and Sanitation in the Ministry, Mrs. Elizabeth Ugoh who explained that although access to safely managed sanitation is a fundamental human right, millions of people across the globe, including Nigeria with a national access of 18%, continue to lack adequate facilities, with dire consequences for public health, the environment and overall well-being.
Mrs Ugoh therefore stressed that the workshop serves as a crucial platform to collectively explore innovative strategies, share best practices in order to deepen collaboration so as to advance the cause of safe and sustainable sanitation for the populace.
