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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has urged the Federal Government to take actions that would solve water crisis in Nigeria, stressing that millions of Nigerian children are coming down with water-borne diseases that could have negative impact on their health.
Specifically, UNICEF said water-related crisis is endangering the lives of 78 million children in Nigeria, hence urgent action is required on Water Sanitisation and Hygiene (WASH) to protect the lives and health of Nigerians.
UNICEF Nigeria Chief of WASH, Jane Bevan, in a statement, yesterday, stressed the need for global leaders to support Nigeria in its effort to solve the water crisis.
He said: “78 million children in Nigeria are at the highest risk from a convergence of water-related threats, inadequate WASH-related diseases; and climate hazards according to a new UNICEF analysis.
“In Nigeria, one-third of children do not have access to, at least, basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services. Hand hygiene is also limited, with three-quarters of children unable to wash their hands due to lack of water and soap at home.
“As a result, Nigeria is one of the 10 countries that carry the heaviest burden of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate WASH, such as diarrhoea diseases. Nigeria also ranks second out of 163 countries globally with the highest risk of exposure to climate and environmental threats.
“Groundwater levels are also dropping, requiring some communities to dig wells twice as deep as just a decade ago. At the same time, rainfall has become more erratic and intense, leading to floods that contaminate scarce water supplies.”
He suggested a rapid scale-up investment in the water sector, including from global climate financing, strengthen climate resilience in the WASH sector and communities, increase effective and accountable systems, coordination, and capacities to provide water and sanitation services, and implement the UN-Water SDG6 global acceleration framework.
“If we continue at the current pace, it will take 16 years to achieve access to safe water for all in Nigeria.
We cannot wait that long, and the time to move quickly is now. Investing in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene services is not only a matter of protecting children’s health today, but also ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come,” he said.
