UNICEF is among the most recognised social welfare organizations in the world.
By SADIQ ABUBAKAR, Maiduguri –
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says Nigeria is rated the highest country with high rate of open defecation across the world.
UNICEF Nigeria WASH Specialist, Chisom Adimorah disclosed this during a two-day media dialogue on open defecation in Biu, Borno State.
The event was organized by UNICEF in collaboration with the Child Rights Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture Abuja.
Represented by Jane Bevan, UNICEF Nigeria WASH Specialist, the UNICEF Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), further, revealed the alarming statistics highlighting that Nigeria has consistently ranked among the top five countries of the world with the highest number of open defecation for the past 15 years.
Mrs. Adimorah also revealed that the country has however progressively moved from fifth place in 2003 to second place in 2015 and has now unfortunately claimed the top spot in 2023, following India’s successful eradication of open defecation in 2019.
She further explained that Nigeria currently has 47 million open defecation, surpassing Ethiopia (20 million), Indonesia (17 million), Pakistan (16 million), and Nigeria itself (16 million) while cautioning that Nigeria might not achieve the target of eliminating open defecation in 2025.
The UNICEF WASH Specialist also said that 102 out of 774 Local Government Areas of Nigeria accounted for 13% LGAs that have been certified as Open Defecation Free (ODF) while 24 states of the federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja do not have any validated Local Government Area that is ODF.
She called on relevant stakeholders and partners as well as private sector investors as a matter of great importance to urgently strengthen and expand proven strategies to effectively address the challenges and effectively work towards achieving the country’s mandate.
UNICEF Nigeria WASH Specialist, Lonis Salihu also elaborated extensively on how Borno State is developing a roadmap towards becoming open defecation free state in joint efforts with RUWASSA, UNICEF , DZM and other partners.
Salihu assured that with the support of UNICEF interventions, Biu and Shani Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state will soon be declared fully open defecation free.
He attributed the successes made to the adoption of the Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and WASHCOM approaches, which have positively played a vital role in reducing the prevalence of open defecation in over 500 communities with the availability of over 312 WASH boreholes across the wards of the communities of the Shani LGA.
