As Nigeria marks the 2023 World Water Day, WaterAid Nigeria has called for the implementation of right policies by government and investment in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) as part of efforts to accelerate the progress towards sustainable and safe services for all by 2030.
The Country Director, WaterAid Nigeria,Evelyn Mere, made the call in a statement signed by the Communications Assistant, Ejura Adama, Wednesday, in Abuja, saying with only seven years to deliver on Sustainable Development Goal 6-clean water and sanitation for all, the government must make WASH a top national priority, champion an inspirational vision and drive institutional reform that has results at all levels.
She called for substantial increase in WASH financing, ensuring costed finance strategies are developed, backed by sufficient public funds to build a high-performing sector that attracts finance and improves the quality of spending.
Mere said government need to provide more, better quality finance for water, sanitation and hygiene in the long term to achieve and sustain national targets.
“A situation where only 10% of Nigerians have access to basic WASH, 67% use basic drinking water services and per capita volume of water available to our rural population daily is 10 Liters, 40 liters less than the UN accepted standard, is unacceptable and requite urgent action to accelerate change,” she said.