The Federal Government, on Monday, inaugurated a 23-man technical sub-committee on sanitation and hygiene to consolidate the fragmented policies into a comprehensive document that will cover all aspects of water sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria.
Director of Water Supply and Support Services, Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, Dr Nicolas Madu, said the decision to formulate a comprehensive national wash policy was prompted by the combined insight of the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation and the Minister of Environment leading to the establishment of a technical committee for policy review and development.
Madu, who is also the national chairman WASH policy development committee, stated that it has become important to elevate sanitation and hygiene to the same level as water supply. He added that the subcommittee will be given enough time and resources to discuss issues thoroughly as well as provide well-informed advice to the main committee.
He said the members of the sub-committee are seasoned professionals and bureaucrats selected from across the MDAs, states and professional organisations and whose wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise will be useful to the main committee.
“The subcommittee comprises 42 members from various government ministries, civil societies, and donor agencies. This diverse composition aims to ensure that the perspectives of all stakeholders in the WASH domain are considered in the development of policy documents.
“We have drawn people from the regular government ministries, from civil societies, from donor agencies, and we have these 42, we have ensured that everybody requires to be on the seat on the table discussing WASH is reflected in that committee. The reason is that we want any documents so developed to aggregate all the aspirations of participants or stakeholders in the WASH family.
“The idea of this committee is to develop one very well-thought out policy document that will aggregate all the shades of WASH so we can have everything under one umbrella.”
On its part, WaterAid Nigeria calls for urgent action on WASH for national development. Speaking through its Head of Advocacy, Policy, and Communications, Kolawole Banwo, WaterAid emphasizes the critical role of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in Nigeria’s development.
Banwo while commenting on the economic impact of water said without proper WASH infrastructure, disease burdens will increase, children will fall sick while economic resources will be diverted to curative medicine. He said the importance of WASH for public health cannot be overemphasised citing the prevention of diseases like COVID-19 and Ebola.
He spoke on the significance of a subcommittee focusing on WASH and the need to move beyond mere promises of water supply and consider sanitation and hygiene components. He highlighted the specific challenges such as the need for toilets designed for women’s menstrual hygiene and facilities accommodating people with disabilities.
A member of the subcommittee, Elizabeth Ugo a director in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation assured of total support to the main committee.
The sub-committee members are drawn from Ministers of Health, Environment, Agriculture and Rural Development, Transport, Works, Housing; Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, and the academia.
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