Safe Water: Increase Access To Meet SDGs Goal – UNICEF
By Chioma
Umeha
To
meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goal six by 2030, the United
Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has said that Nigeria must intensify efforts in
ensuring access to portable water supply.
The
United Nations body is worried that 15 million Nigerians still drink water from
rivers, lakes, ponds, streams and irrigation canals and have tasked the Federal
Government to improve access to safe drinking water.
Moustapha
Niang, UNICEF specialist, who spoke recently, during a two-day media dialogue
on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene WASH, organised by UNICEF in partnership with
the Child Right Information Bureau (CRIB) of the Ministry of Information,
expressed concern over lack of safe drinking water in the country.
Niang
said that 57 million Nigerians lacked access to potable water supply and added
that more than half of this figure lives in rural areas.
He
noted that accessibility to safe water can save the lives of most under-five
children that die annually from water-borne diseases.
With
most of these diseases caused by poor access to safe water, the UNICEF
specialist warned: “If the government do not put in more effort to ensure
access to safe water supply, Nigeria is unlikely to meet the Sustainable
Development Goals six target.
“We
need to do 20 times more of what we are currently doing in terms of policies
and funding in providing safe water to the people,” he said.
“For example, in 1999, 12
per cent of the population has pipe access to their homes but this percentage
declined to two percent as at 2015.”
The SDG goals six aims at
ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for
all.
Mr Udom Emmanuel, the
Akwa Ibom state governor, in his remarks, noted that the state
government was providing new strategic policies that would ensure provision of
potable water across the state.
Emmanuel
who was represented at the event by Mr. NseEde, the Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Political, Legislative Affairs and Water Resources,
observed that the state government was not only doing this for the people of
Akwa Ibom state, but for the whole South South region.
Martha Hokonya, UNICEF
WASH Specialist, in her presentation enumerated the benefits of provision of
potable water and urged journalists to do the needful in prompting the
government to invest in provision of potable water.
Hokonya,
also said such investment in addition to job creation, reduces
diseases and mortality rate, improves productivity and also provides
time for women to engage in other activities like child care and others
activities which brings women together.
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