More Nigerians lack access to basic sanitation, water

Inspite of huge government spending on water resources in the last few years, a new WaterAid report, ‘Water: At What Cost? The State of the World’s Water’ noted that only 29 per cent of the population has access to basic sanitation. “Nigeria is one of a handful of countries around the world where access to […]

Inspite of huge government spending on water resources in the last few years, a new WaterAid report, ‘Water: At What Cost? The State of the World’s Water’ noted that only 29 per cent of the population has access to basic sanitation.
“Nigeria is one of a handful of countries around the world where access to basic sanitation is falling, rather than rising as 25 per cent practice open defecation, 31 per cent lack access to improved water sources,” the report, released as part of activities to mark the 2016 World Water Day, stated.
It went further to say that about 68,000 children under the age of five in Nigeria die from diseases caused by the nation’s poor levels of access to water, sanitation and hygiene.
Globally, the report said that some 650 million people do not have access to clean water and more than 2.3 billion do not have access to basic sanitation, with devastating results.
 Some 315,000 children under five die each year of diarrhoeal diseases related to the lack of these basic rights. And 50 per cent of malnutrition cases are linked to chronic diarrhoea caused by lack of clean water, good sanitation and good hygiene including handwashing with soap.
The briefing, which is WaterAid’s first ever ‘State of the World’s Water’ report, offers a snapshot of access to water around the world in 2016. It also ranks nations based on rates of household access to water and on highest populations without access to water.
While Nigeria features 17 in the list of the top 20 most improved countries for water access over the past 15 years, it is also listed as one of the worst in the world for household water access and features third in the world on a list of the top 10 countries with the greatest number of people living without access to safe water.
Dr. Michael Ojo WaterAid Nigeria Country Representative said: “Clean drinking water is a right yet an estimated 31 per cent of people in Nigeria are still living without access to clean water. Increased competition for water resources and climate change are only exacerbating the crisis which, along with lack of sanitation, is responsible for the deaths of more than 68,000 children under five each year in the country.”