By Muhammad Amaan
The Federal Government of Nigeria has restated its commitment to prioritise Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene services in the country.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, gave reassurance when the National Water Sanitation and Hygiene Network paid her an advocacy visit in Abuja.
According to her, the FG has pledged to implement the principles of WASH in internally displaced persons camps and crisis-prone areas across the country, adding that the ministry is also working with other organisations in addressing the challenges of WASH.
The Director of Humanitarian Affairs, Valentine Ezulu who represented the Minister said, “The minister is very active in ensuring that any form of humanitarian crisis is promptly attended to by the ministry.
She is proactive and does not waste time in responding to crises in the country.
“The major problem in the IDP camps is the issue of WASH, but we have some groups and agencies under the ministry working towards addressing these issues.
The principles of WASH are propagated and implemented at the IDP camps and crisis-prone areas in the country.
“We also build a friendly environment where the issue of wash is taken to the highest level in the country.”
Meanwhile, the National Coordinator of NEWSAN, Attah Benson, said the organisation is concerned about the poor attention paid to WASH at the state level.
He said, “That is why we are here to see the possibility of working with your ministry and use her support to help intervene
“Prior to the election earlier this year, we tried to engage different political parties and aspirants and we came up with a pledge card which political parties and aspirants needed to sign and commit to supporting water sanitation and hygiene.
“The essence of this is to see how to mobilise assistance for improved implementation of prioritising water and sanitation and hygiene across the country.
We’ve seen that it’s been difficult for some states to tackle the flood situation and the technical manpower is not available particularly at the state level so we are looking at how to work together and prioritise water sanitation and hygiene.
The national coordinator called for urgent action to be taken to tackle the rising number of people defecating openly in the country.
“We need everybody to be on board. The country has been committing WASH but nothing much has been achieved.
“I suggest the possibility whereby the ministry, in every humanitarian situation, move from humanitarian to development and Integrate disaster risk reduction in different development programmes in the country and this will enhance the development status of the citizens across the country,” he added.
