NAN-AE-10
Sanitation
By Tosin Kolade
Abuja, Feb. 16, 2017 (NAN) An environmentalist, Mr Rufus Aderopo has called on all tiers of government to evolve plans to meet the sanitation and hygiene needs of Nigerians as the population is increasing.
Aderopo, a co-convener, Earth and Life Mission, an advocacy group, made the call in Abuja on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He said that as the country`s population was expanding, there was the need for sanitation facilities to match population growth.
According to him, for the development to be all encompassing, Nigeria should begin to take concrete steps towards meeting the sanitation and hygiene needs of its population.
The environmentalist said it was a matter of regret that open defecation and indiscriminate dumping of refuse was still a big challenge towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
He urged the relevant authorities in the country to reverse the trend.
According to him, over 70 per cent of ailments are caused by lack of good sanitation and non-availability of potable water for the citizenry.
He explained that hygiene-related diseases were the leading causes of deaths in one among five children annually, saying that this could be prevented by washing of hands with soap and water.
“Empowering children to be hygiene heroes will go a long way in promoting hand washing culture in the society.
“Children can tell their parents, friends and teachers the benefits of washing their hands at critical times.
“They could also act as change agents to reduce increasing rate of preventable deaths,” he said.
He called for continuous awareness to enable more Nigerians know the benefits of hygiene and sanitation, towards disease and death reduction.
“Hand washing with soap at critical times prevents families from getting diarrhoea and other diseases.”
He said such critical times include, after defecation, before handling food, before eating, and before feeding a child.
Aderopo said that if Bangladesh and Peru could reduce open defecation prevalence to single digits, open defecation-free was possible in Nigeria.
He said Nigeria could achieve its target of meeting the National Roadmap of Ending Open defecation by 2025, “if it puts policies in place to encourage behavioural change for sanitation and hygiene’’.
The environmentalist observed that there was a gap between knowledge and attitude in hygiene promotion practice, saying this could be reduced with proper hygiene promotion messages.
Aderopo said, historically, Nigeria was known for having sanitary inspectors which carried out enforcement of hygiene practices.
He called for the re-introduction of sanitary inspectors in the society to reduce possible outbreaks of preventable diseases.
According to him, poor persons are 36 times more likely to defecate in the open than rich individuals due to the disproportionate distribution of wealth in the society.
Aderopo explained that there was the need for all stakeholders to develop simple, better, cost effective messages that would enable more Nigerians change their behaviours towards hygiene promotion.
He said since the Federal Government was a signatory to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, “there is the need to deliberately remove barriers to sanitation and hygiene problems in the country’’. (NAN)
TAK/MOL/MO
==================Edited by Mustapha Lamidi/Morayo Omolade