Council restates commitment to support countries’ sanitation programmes
NAN-AE-8
Sanitation
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, April 19, 2017 (NAN) The Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), has restated commitment to support national coordinators in their strategic efforts to improve national sanitation programmes in the 16-member nations.
A report from WSSCC obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja said its Executive Director, Dr Chris Williams, made the pledge in Geneva on Wednesday.
Williams gave the pledge at the unveiling of `Connecting the Dot: Advancing the Water Sanitation and Hygiene Agenda’ in 16 countries with WSSCC’s National Coordinators.’
According to him, National Coordinators are at the heart of the global movement to improve sanitation and hygiene, saying with strengthened collaboration among stakeholders, they have met these targets.
Williams said the global body would continue to focus on the sanitation target to improve the well-being of the people.
He stated that WSSCC was forging partnerships with stakeholders working on meeting targets on education, health, women empowerment, climate change adaptation and urban development.
He said with the progress made in implementing the national sanitation programmes, no fewer than 14 million persons have been encouraged to end open defecation, invest in sanitation and adopt good hygiene behaviour.
In a related development, Ms. Priscilla Achakpa, National Coordinator, WSSCC Nigeria, called on all tiers of government to budget adequate funds for water and sanitation projects.
Achakpa said that it was saddening to note that sanitation was not given any consideration in the budgets of the governments, thereby promoting diseases and open defecation practice.
She stressed that Nigeria ought to reduce its disease burden through improved access to potable water and basic sanitation, saying that this could be attained through deliberate and sustained funding.
She said that it was an undisputed fact that the lack of potable water and basic sanitation promoted water-borne diseases and preventable deaths, especially among under-five children.
She said that since Nigeria was a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), it was imperative for the Federal Government to begin to implement programmes and policies that would engender an inclusive society.
She underscored the need for the Federal Government to develop an action plan and implementation timelines for the Partnership for Extended Water and Sanitation (PEWASH) programme, while considering CSOs as active partners.
“Majority of the stakeholders say they were not involved in the PEWASH programme and that it is driven by few partners in the country, but the programme ought to be subjected to all states, so that they can buy into it,” she said.
WSSCC’s member nations are Nigeria, Madagascar, Uganda, Benin, Cambodia, Kenya and Ethopia.
Others are Malawi, Nepal, Tanzania, Senegal and Togo, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
NAN reports that Nigeria is committed to ending open defecation by 2025, through a roadmap that was launched a few years ago.
Goal Six of the SDGs focus on ensuring access to water and sanitation for all by 2030 but a large number of people, mostly children, still dies from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.
WSSCC advocates for the billions of people worldwide who lack access to good sanitation, share solutions that empower communities, and operates the Global Sanitation Fund.
Since 2008, the global body has committed over 112 million dollars to transform lives in developing countries. (NAN)
TAK/MOL/EAL
=========
Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Ekemini Ladejobi