In order to realize President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years, the Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, has stated that his Ministry is working hard to contribute towards bringing Nigerians out of poverty in the areas of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
The Minister made this statement recently in Abuja when he had the First Quarter Lunch Time Forum on ending Open Defecation in Nigeria with Executive Directors(News) in the Electronic Media Houses in collaboration with Organised Private Sector in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (OPS – WASH).
The Minister noted that as a result of the Ministry’s collaboration with the Organized Private Sector in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (OPS-WASH), a chain of economic activities will be created, that will bring about job opportunities in the sector.
“The Private Sector and Development Partners can leverage on more collaborative efforts that will provide for funding critical investments in water and sanitation infrastructure / programmes across the country; this is in the realization that job creation is everyone’s responsibility,” he said.
Engr. Adamu maintained that, partnership, collaboration and advocacy with and by all stakeholders is required to ensure that Nigeria attains Open Defecation Free status (ODF) by the target year of 2025 and achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) Goal 6.1 and 6.2 for WASH with the theme ‘leaving no one behind’ by the year 2030.
Earlier in her opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs. Comfort Ekaro C. noted that the Clean Nigeria Campaign is aimed at mobilizing high level political support, resources and the entire populace towards building a new culture of safe sanitation.
Ekaro stressed how essential it is to aggressively mobilize the entire country towards ending the practice of open defecation, which has placed Nigeria on the global map as the country with the highest number of people indulging in the act estimated at 47million people.
