WaterAid, NWRI sign MoU on scaling up WASH
By Ahmed Ahmed
An NGO Wateraid Nigeria has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) Kaduna on scaling up Water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in the country.
Mrs Oluseyi Abdulmalik, Communications and Media Manager, WaterAid Nigeria stated this in a statement made available to Journalists in Bauchi on Friday,
The statement said the MoU is aimed at providing technical assistance and capacity building, targeted at frontline agencies and implementers of sanitation development programmes in Nigeria,
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It said Dr Evelyn Mere, WaterAid Country Director said that a multisectoral approach was needed to address the knowledge and capacity gaps for improved sanitation in Nigeria.
It noted that the partnership, through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, should provide technical assistance and capacity building to stimulate sector actors to achieve the longer-term goals of the National Action Plan.
According to the statement, the country’s plan is to ensure universal access to sustainable and safely managed water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services for all Nigerians by 2030,
“By institutionalizing the enabling environment required to support the effective and sustainable management of WASH in the country. services.
“This engagement has influenced and informed our strategy and approach to working with the federal government and has brought us here at this time.
“Despite slight progress at the national level, Nigeria ranks first among countries in the world with the largest open defecating population,” it said
The statement declared that Nigeria still has 112 million people without access to basic sanitation, this catastrophic state of sanitation has adverse effects on health, livelihoods, education, gender equality and development.
It explained that the partnership with NWRI would combine WASH expertise to fill knowledge and capacity gaps for the provision of sustainable and equitable total sanitation at scale in Nigeria.
The statement said as part of the partnership, modules would be developed on a “rethinking rural sanitation” approach to guide policymakers, planners and those responsible for implementing rural sanitation programs.
The statement expressed optimism that through the provision of technical assistance and capacity building of frontline agencies,
“The partnership would contribute to the realization of the sanitation pillar of the national action plan and to the achievement of the SDGs by 2030.
Meanwhile, Professor Emmanuel Adamu, Chief executive of NWRI, said the MoU should give legal support to the partnership, which would seek to improve and systematically support sector capacity building for the development of sanitation programs in Nigeria.
It said the institute had started formulating a sanitation curriculum for all institutions in Nigeria, which had been submitted to universities.
It added that the institute is committed to ensuring that total sanitation is achieved on a large scale, adding that the goal will be achieved with the participation of institutions.
In the statement, the Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, said the partnership was important in tackling the root causes of poor sanitation in the country.
It added that the challenges of poor sanitation went beyond teaching students the basics, but the idea of capacity building for rural sanitation was very important and timely.
“Every effort to improve sanitation in this country is welcome, basically it’s something different, we have been advocating, we have built toilets and boreholes and so on.
“For the first time, we have instructions tailored to this particular issue, hopefully, it will get us out of this challenge, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals,” The statement said.
It said the Minister commended the efforts of WaterAid Nigeria to expand WASH services in the country, saying the Nigerian government has shown the highest political will to change the discourse on poor sanitation.
The statement also added that the Minister reaffirmed the development of the National WASH Action Plan.
“The implementation of the “Clean Nigeria, Use the Toilet” campaign and Executive Decree 009 to End Defecation in the open air,”
