About 103 million Nigerians still
defecate in the open out of about 223 million people that practice open
defecation in Sub-Saharan Africa, WaterAid Nigeria, an international
non-governmental organisation working in the area of water and
sanitation, has said.
Michael Ojo, WaterAid Country Representatives in Nigeria, said this
yesterday in Abuja at the launching of the total sanitation project.The project which has four years circle
was aimed at improving the effectiveness and sustainability of the total
sanitation project in Nigeria.
Ojo also announced that Nigeria has been
awarded $6.6million equivalent (N936m) grant by the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation to scale up sanitation projects in 10 local government
areas of Jigawa, Enugu and Ekiti states.
The Total Sanitation Project hopes to
assist 500 communities in the country to improve access to toilet
services and get the communities to attain the Open Defecation Free
(ODF) status.He said that only 32 per cent of
Nigeria’s population has access to improved sanitation facilities with
36 per cent coverage in urban areas as compared to 28 per cent in rural
areas.
“An estimated 150,000 deaths mainly
among children under five occur annually due to diseases predominantly
caused by poor sanitation and hygiene practice. There is no doubt,
access to sanitation is a major challenge in the country,” Ojo said.