The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has called for the urgent need to address the water crisis and avert the risk of endangering 78 million children from the convergence of three water-related threats in Nigeria.
UNICEF Nigeria Chief of WASH Dr. Jane Bevan Stated this on 20th March 2023 in preparation for the world leaders historic UN Water Conference slated to hold in New York, 22-24 March 2023.
She said Nigeria is at the highest risk of inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and other disease-related cases emanating from climate hazards, hence clamoring for actionable political will to cushion the effect of water shortages in the country.
“In Nigeria, one-third of children do not have access to at least basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services. Hand hygiene is also limited, with three-quarters of children unable to wash their hands due to a lack of water and soap at home. As a result, Nigeria is one of the 10 countries that carry the heaviest burden of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate WASH, such as diarrhoeal diseases.
“Nigeria also ranks second out of 163 countries globally with the highest risk of exposure to climate and environmental threats.
“Groundwater levels are also dropping, requiring some communities to dig wells twice as deep as just a decade ago. At the same time, rainfall has become more erratic and intense, leading to floods that contaminate scarce water supplies.
“I believe we need to rapidly scale up investment in the sector, including from global climate financing, strengthen climate resilience in the WASH sector and communities, increase effective and accountable systems, coordination, and capacities to provide water and sanitation services, and implement the UN-Water SDG6 Global Acceleration Framework.”
The UNICEF Nigeria says continuing at the current pace will take the nation 16 years to achieve access to safe water for all, thus calling for proactiveness across all sectors to invest in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene services to protect not only children’s health but ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.
