Despite taking the global lead in open defecation, Nigeria again ranks as the poorest in terms of provision of portable water supply to her citizens.
The Managing Director of Taraba Water and Sewerage Corporation (TAWASCO), Mr Buba Siam disclosed this on Tuesday during a Knowledge Cafe (Mu-Gana) – quarterly meeting between TAWASCO, E-WASH and CSOs involved in the E-WASH projects in Taraba state.
Siam said that despite efforts by the Corporation to ensure adequate water supply to citizens of the State, lack of adequate funding have continued to militate against achieving the objective.
He said while India which was the leader in open defecation had exited in 2019, Nigeria was today number one in the world.
That was why President Muhammadu Buhari declared ‘Operation Clean Nigeria, use the toilet in December 2019’ with the view of reversing the negative trend in open defecation.
The Taraba state government in partnership with Fecal Sludge management is to establish a treatment plant in Jalingo to collect and treat human feces from individual homes to a central treatment facility.
Mr. Buba regretted that despite abundant water resources, Nigerians still do not have portable water on their tables due largely to government lean resources and lack of political will.
“It is so sad that we live in an environment that is suffering serious degradation due to human activities. Sanitation has become a global issue of serious concern. Regrettably, despite abundant water resources, most Nigerians still do not have portable water on their tables. Nigeria is ranked poorest in Africa in terms of water supply to her citizens”, he disclosed.
Siam added that, “In Taraba state, despite our conscious efforts, we have not been able to meet the water demands of our customers. Water supply and sanitation are capital intensive and without adequate funding, there is little the utility companies can do”.
Our Correspondent reports that some of the civil society organizations who spoke at the meeting noted that there was still a lot of households, even within the state capital, that were not yet connected to the water supply channels and regretted preference to open defecation by most people especially in the rural areas and lack of toilet facilities at some public places.
They however observed that the intervention of USAID E-WASH, the water, sanitation and hygiene sector may drastically improve the situation.
