NAN-AE-9
Water
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, July 13, 2017 (NAN) Gender Rights Advocates, a non-governmental organisation, on Thursday decried the long hours which women and girls across the country spend to get water for domestic uses.
The Project Coordinator of the organisation, Mrs Maryanne Anuforo, told News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that it was disheartening to note that most girls and women wasted a lot of time everyday looking for drinkable water.
Anuforo, who stressed that the wasted time could have been used for other productive endeavours, said that the importance of the water factor in the education of girls could not be over-emphasised.
She noted many young girls in the country were burdened with the routine task of looking for water in most rural communities, thereby hindering their school attendance.
She said that more than 70 per cent of rural women spent not less than three hours every day trekking long distances in search of potable water for their families.
Anuforo stressed that the government ought to reverse the trend by initiating purposeful policies and programmes that would improve the lives of women and children.
She said that the interests of women, as the highest users of water in the society, ought to be considered in the design and execution of water projects in a way that would suit them.
Besides, Anuforo said that it was important for all stakeholders to reduce women’s vulnerability to early or forced marriage, diseases and deaths, particularly those caused by water scarcity and inadequate sanitation.
The project coordinator also called for the installation of sanitation and hygiene facilities in all schools.
She maintained that the management of girls’ menstrual hygiene could only be achieved with hitch-free access to water in schools.
Anuforo decried a situation in which some schools lacked drinking water sources, flush toilets or hand-wash sinks, saying that such scenarios were common in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Children’s education suffers greatly from the dearth of safe water and sanitation facilities, as students usually use valuable class time to fetch water from places that are far away from the school.
“Sometimes, the paths are dangerous for the children; they have to carry jugs that are far too heavy for them and this affects the development of their spines as they grow,’’ she said.
Anuforo said that many school hours were lost to water-related illnesses, adding that unsafe water often caused diseases such as diarrhoea.
“Diarrhoea is one of the most deadly diseases for children in the developing world.
“Improper waste disposal and lack of water for proper hand washing perpetuate diseases such as cholera, typhoid, trachoma, and hepatitis.
“Sometimes, these diseases provoke school closures, making education impossible in some rural areas,” she added.
On water and sanitation facilities, Anuforo said that in many cases, young girls dropped out of school whenever they reached puberty because of the lack of privacy or separate facilities for females in most schools.
She said over 50 per cent of young girls, who dropped out of school in the rural areas, did so because of poor water and sanitation facilities in the schools.
“Water is intimately linked with education and gender equality; girls who have to spend a lot of time in fetching water for the family tend not to be in school.
“And wherever the schools have sanitation facilities, attendance is higher, especially for girls,” she added.
Anuforo called for the construction of improved latrines and the provision of safe water in schools, saying that this would boost the school attendance of students, particularly girls. (NAN)
TAK/MOL/OOK
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Edited by Mustapha Lamidi and Dayo Komolafe