SDG 6 MAP: WHERE ARE WE IN WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE?

18 May SDG 6 MAP: WHERE ARE WE IN WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE?

We are ten years away from the Sustainable Development Goal completion year which is 2030. And like every other goal set in organisations it is only wise to have a review and see where we are currently.

Nigeria’s population is estimated to be 206,139,589 people mid year according to the United Nations. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. 

You might be wondering “Why should I be reading or learning about the SDG 6?” Well, it is connected to your health. I know you take clean water, you practice proper sanitation and hygiene but have you for a moment stopped to think that do the people around me, the people I come in contact with, do they have access to clean water and sanitation. The people around you are those by the roadside who you purchase commodities from, the security guard who opens the gate for you, the maid who cooks for you and goes back to his/her place of residency after the day’s work. We come in contact with these people and are likely to contract germs from them, making us and our family unsafe. The only way we can guard ourselves and the people around us is by getting involved and informed about the SDG 6, what should we be doing, what should the private sector be doing, what should the government also do.

What is the SDG 6 about? It is about the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all, this is to be achieved by 2030.with  The major areas here are Water and Sanitation.  

Where is Nigeria currently at achieving this goal? Let’s start from the basics, where is Nigeria at providing safe drinking water and basic sanitation and hygiene for its populace? In answering this question, we draw inference from available data and participation level.  

WATER

Equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all(Nigerians): in achieving this goal, the majority of the population need to have access to safely managed drinking water services. Drinking water that is available when needed, accessible to all and free of contamination. It is safe for drinking, cooking, household and hygiene use. 

In an online news publication (today.ng), the minister for water resources had inaugurated a 14-member policy advisory committee to help in implementing the national water resources master plan. We also have a policy regarding the water sector which states expressly what we are supposed to achieve in a five year breakdown. The first year period which is 2016-2020 and what we should have achieved by this period is an average target installation of 13,110 water supply systems in both rural areas and small towns. On the 2nd of March 2020 the minister for water resources gave a briefing on the job the ministry has done so far, in which it stated that it has constructed and rehabilitated 700 water schemes  in Kano and Ogun state, this is far from the 13,110 target , so there is still much work to be done in this area if  we really want to achieve our 2030 target.

From data:

• As at 2017 20% of Nigeria’s population use a safely managed drinking water service. You will agree with me that this is really low, 80% do not have access to safe drinking water. 

SANITATION & HYGIENE

The goal is to achieve adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation, paying special attention to the needs of women and girls and those in vulnerable situations. Sanitation and hygiene entails: 

• Sanitation service: management of excreta from facilities (toilets/latrines/soak away) used by individuals, through emptying and transport of excreta for treatment and eventual discharge or reuse.
• Ending open defecation: access to toilet facilities for defecation and not making use of open spaces or fields.
• Hand Washing facility with soap and water: Hand hygiene, in particular, is one of the most important measures to prevent the spread of diseases
• Safely treated wastewater: Wastewater is “used water”, it includes domestic wastewater from households, municipal wastewater from communities (also called sewage) and industrial wastewater. Wastewater can contain physical, chemical and biological pollutants.
• Sanitation for women, girls and those in vulnerable situations.

For sanitation policy, the expected output by 2020 is to improve access to adequate sanitation to 6 million people in public areas. It also entails the installation of 10,100 toilets to rural areas and small towns. In the 2nd of March  briefing by the Minister for water resources, it was stated that partnerships with entrepreneurs resulted in Latrines constructed in 105 markets and motor parks (23 more are on-going). There is more work to be done as  we have not reached the 10,100 mark.

From data:

42% has access to a basic hand washing facility.  A basic hand washing facility is defined by a device to contain, transport or regulate the flow of water to facilitate hand washing with soap and water in the household (2017).

Nigeria has no data as to what percentage of household’s wastewater are treated for recycling and safe reuse globally.In

In conclusion we have not gone halfway to the completion of our goals for Sustainable Development Goal 6 and these are my reasons as to why:

• We do not have sufficient data and we do not have structures or processes in keeping or tracking data. You can only tell how well you have done by the records you have kept.
• The Government at levels (state, federal and local), really needs to put in effort. There are policies created to guide us in implementing these goals, so it’s really hard to tell where the fault is from. But if our government really has our interest at heart they would look within themselves and deal with where the fault is coming from.
• The government has also created a link whereby private organisations can collaborate with them in the delivery of these goals through the Organised Private Sector forum on WASH (OPS-WASH). This a call to action for private organisations to join in, this can serve as their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

At Posh Potties our service is centered around delivering basic sanitation and hygiene facilities to people with our Luxury Mobile Toilets and Hand washing facilities and sewage (soak away) evacuation service.