Water, sanitation: Buhari’s emergency to the rescue

With the launch of the National Action Plan for the Revitalisation of Water Supply Sanitation and Hygiene Sector, Nigeria is set to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) by 2030. FRANK IKPEFAN writes that President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration of emergency on water and sanitation is to avoid a repeat of the country’s failure to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) targets for WASH in 2015.

THE stage was set and guests were seated. The venue was the State House Conference Centre, Abuja. The scenery was aesthetic. It betrayed the decision that was to come out of it. In less than 30 minutes, President Muhammadu Buhari had declared a state of emergency on water and sanitation sector.

To many stakeholders, the measure taken by the Buhari administration was right, considering the decline in the sector’s fortune.

Unknown to many, the water and sanitation sector has recorded more deaths than the rampaging Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast. Hundreds of infants are lost annually to water borne diseases.

According to the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) Chief Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Zaid Jurji, 122,000 Nigerians, including 87,000 children below five years die each year from diarrhea; nearly 90 per cent is directly attributed to lack of WASH.

Without toilets, the people are left with the option of defecating in the open, an act leading to exposure to diseases such as diarrhea, cholera, viral hepatitis, typhoid, polio, and dysentery, Jurji explained.

Despite being the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa, one out of three Nigerians lacks access to clean water close to his/home; and two in three have no access to decent household toilets, according to WaterAid Nigeria, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).

So, it was only a matter of time before attention was directed to a sector that had received less attention in policy making and monitoring, despite huge investments.

Also, the country’s sanitation and hygiene fortune has been on the decline since the 90s. Little or no effort had been done to revive it. In fact, Nigeria recorded practically no progress in the area of sanitation in the last 25 years, a World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) in a 2015 Report, said.

The report, aimed at monitoring the progress of countries towards achieving access to safe water and basic sanitation, said that 38 per cent of the world population had access to improved sanitation in 1990,

The figure declined in 2015 to a dismal 29 per cent, which was up just by one per cent from 2014’s figure of 28 per cent.

In declaring the state of emergency, President Buhari said that Nigeria could not afford to allow water borne diseases to continue to decimate the country’s population.

He decried the high rating of the country as number two in the global rating on Open Defecation as about 25 per cent of the population practice open defecation.

According to UNICEF, Nigeria ranks among the top five open defecator in the world for the past 15 years, moving from fifth place in 2013 to second in 2015.

Inaugurating the National Action Plan for Revitalisation of the WASH Sector, Buhari said that the declaration became imperative to reduce the high-prevalence of water-borne diseases across the country, which had caused preventable deaths.

He said: “Access to pipe borne water services which was 32 per cent in 1990 has declined to seven per cent in 2015; access to improved sanitation has also decreased from 38 per cent in 1990 to 29 per cent in 2015.

“Our country now ranks No 2 in the global rating on Open Defecation as about 25 per cent of our population practice open defecation.

“WASH services at the rural areas are unsustainable as 46 per cent of all water schemes are non-functional, and the share of our spending on WASH sector has been declining from 0.70 per cent of the GDP in 1990 to about 0.27 per cent in 2015 which is far below the 0.70 per cent at the West African regional level.

“However, these are not being given the required attention judging from the high prevalence of water-borne diseases that are being reported in different parts of the country.

“We cannot and will not continue to allow these preventable occurrences to decimate our population.

“The Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs) targets (6.1 & 6.2) for WASH are even more demanding as they require WASH services to be provided in adequate quantity and quality on premises at affordable prices.

“This cannot be achieved if we continue with ‘a business as usual’ approach. It is on this premise that I fully endorse the decision taken at the meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in April this year to declare ‘a State of Emergency on our WASH sector.’

“I call on all state governments to complement this effort by according the sector similar recognition to enable us work together to achieve the SDG targets for WASH by 2030.’’ President Buhari assured that his administration will continue to place priority on infrastructure development including water supply, sanitation and hygiene services towards ensuring a better life for Nigerians.

He said: “From the inception of this administration, we have demonstrated serious commitment to the development of the Water Sector by preserving the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and subsequently approving the 15-year roadmap developed for the sector.

“The transformation being witnessed in the sector since then is highly commendable. I have no doubt that the on-going initiatives including the implementation of the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) in the ministry will take the water sector to improved performance and supply, thereby meeting the national aspirations as well as the SDGs.”

WaterAid Country Director in Nigeria ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye hailed the Federal Government’s emergency response to address the water and sanitation crisis, the first phase of a National Action Plan to address a state of emergency declared earlier in April this year.

The organisation, which is a key player in the sector, in a statement by its Communications & Media Manager, Seyi Abdulmalik, in Abuja, the nation’s capital, said the water and sanitation sector kills more people annually than the insurgency in the Northeast states of Adamawa, Bornu and Yobe.

The statement said that poor sanitation was estimated to cost countries the equivalent of 0.9 per cent of GDP – “in Nigeria, this amounts to $3.38 billion USD a year.”

Dr. Aniagolu-Okoye said: “With one in three Nigerians without clean water, and two in three Nigerians without decent household sanitation, strong political will is what is needed to address the water and sanitation crises in Nigeria and at WaterAid we are delighted that the Federal Government and President Buhari is demonstrating the needed political will with the launch of the Action Plan.

“The National Plan of Action is a significant political milestone towards achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal Six to reach everyone, everywhere with clean water and decent sanitation by 2030 and our expectation is that state governments will follow suit in developing Action Plans to address the Water and Sanitation crises in their respective states.”

UNICEF has also hailed the government’s declaration, describing it as an important milestone.

Its chief WASH urged the government to translate the action plan into reality by increasing its budget for the water sector.

Jurji added that UNICEF will continue support projects targeted at reaching the underserved in the country.

UNICEF Chief WASH said: “This is a very important milestone; a commitment by the highest authority in the country. The Federal Government needs to translate this plan into a reality and this starts with increased budgetary allocations to the sector.

“UNICEF’s role is catalytic and will help transfer knowledge of successful projects that are being supported to other underserved and unserved locations. UNICEF will also support with updated technical data and information to identify areas of priority needs and help informed decision making. The scale of need is enormous and support will have to be done in a targeted and progressive manner.”

Also, the National Coordinator, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaboration Council (WSSCC), Dr. Priscilla Achakpa, said that governments at all levels, must show commitment to the deflation if the action plan on water and sanitation should succeed.

According to her, Nigeria, being a signatory to the UN declaration on SDGs, must ensure that it demonstrates the political will to change the fortune of the water sector.

She also said the declaration called for improved investment of resources on the sector.

Dr. Achakpa said: “I think that the declaration of emergency on WASH is coming at no better time than now. This is the right time for Nigeria to take the lead being a signatory to the UN declaration on SDGs.

“This should not just be a declaration. There should be a lot of commitment because the declaration requires a lot of resources, political will and a lot of commitment at not just the federal level but at the local levels. The political will of state government and local governments are needed if this must succeed.”

The National Action Plan begins with an 18-month emergency plan, followed by a five-year recovery plan and a 13-year revitalisation strategy, towards the 2030 deadline set by the UN Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate extreme poverty, and create a healthier, more sustainable planet.

It commits the federal and state governments to establish the institutional and funding foundations for sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services, and to accelerate development towards 2030.

But, what commitment will the federal, state and local governments show to this declaration? Only time will tell.