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Group
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, July 24, 2017 (NAN) Mr Benson Attah, National Coordinator, Society for Water and Sanitation, on Monday called for purposeful policies to close inequalities between the poor and the rich in accessing water and sanitation.
Attah told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that eliminating inequalities would help the poor out of poverty to achieve the full potential to live healthy and productive lives.
He said that Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) was an essential component of an integrated approach toward tackling poverty, hunger, health and inequality.
The coordinator expressed the hope that prioritising water, sanitation and hygiene would make growth sustainable in Nigeria.
According to him, a person spending long hours in search of water is a disadvantaged activity that robs one of productive man hours, leading to low economic power.
“Whether we are talking about workers in the WASH sector, unemployed youths or the challenged women and girls fetching water everyday, it is all about eliminating inequalities and helping people out of poverty.”
Attah said there was a need for political commitment and financing from all tiers of government as well as collective efforts to scale up access to water and sanitation.
He said the youth had potential for economic and social progress as they constituted more than 50 per cent of Nigeria’s population.
“With the 2030 Global Agenda, the needs in the water sector are greater than ever before; we need better talent to help shape our future.
“The youth hold great possibility to be the answer, young people can play a central role in bringing dynamic new ideas, fresh thinking and energy into place.’’
He said access to WASH was becoming the basic human right which every individual was entitled to achieve.
The national coordinator added that availability of WASH was the first step toward overcoming poverty to achieve national development.
Attah said that it was unfortunate that Nigeria with numerous sources of water could still lack access to good water for the populace.
“Nigeria featured 17 on the list of the top 20 most improved countries for water access over the past 15 years; the giant of Africa is one of the worst in the world today for lack of access to safe water.
“Nigeria is featured among the top 10 countries in the world with greatest numbers of people without access to water,” he said.
The association is a civil society network dedicated to the provision of safe water, sanitation and hygiene education to the poorest people of Nigeria.
It is a network of over 300 Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria which advocates pro-poor policies in the WASH sector.
It works with member organisations to manage to cost sustainable projects and also influence policy makers to secure the right of poor people to affordable water and sanitation services. (NAN)
TAK/MOL/JCE
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Chukwudi Ekezie