47m practising open defecation, disgrace to Nigeria – ActionAid

The WaterAid UK, Director of International Programmes, Ms Olga Ghazaryan has described Nigerian 47 million people still practicing open defecation as disgraceful, considering the country’s wealth.

Ghazaryan, however commended the country’s correct political will at addressing the menes of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).

She said this on Wednesday at a media and civil society stakeholders lunch meeting in Abuja.

Reacting to the fact that 47 million Nigerians still practicing open defecation, She said: “For a country that is so rich, I think, it’s a disgrace that such millions of people still defecate in the open and it is something that is possible to address in the time frame set up by the government. And I think of the political will is sustained, and the civil societies, private sector come together and citizens are committed to doing it, it’s achievable.

“I commemd the political will at addressing the challenge of open defecation, which is very exciting. I participated in the launch of open defecation free campaign by the Federal Government and the national Action Plan for the WASH emergency adopted by the government, it shows the enoumus increase in the campaign to address WASH crisis in Nigeria

On sustainacnce of the campaign, she said government is duty bond to provide WASH services,

According to WaterAid Nigeria country director, Mrs ChiChi Aniagolu-Okoye, the meeting was to facilitate conversations with WANG national partners on evaluating the impact of current communications and advocacy initiatives and identifying emerging areas of cross-collaboration to achieve national advocacy priorities.

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