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Nigeria is losing N455billion annually as a result of poor sanitary habits among the populace, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has revealed.
UNICEF’s head of Water and Hygiene Section, Vinod Alkari, who disclosed this in Katsina yesterday at the 3rd National Roundtable Conference On Community-Led Total Sanitation, said the amount which represented about 1.3% of GDP was lost to poor sanitation.
The UNICEF officer recalled that Nigeria was “still faced with a lot of challenges in terms of access to improved sanitation” and noted that “improving the disposal of human excreta and stopping open defecations can drastically reduce disease burden due to sanitation-related diseases and contribute to economic transformation.”
Addressing participants at the conference, minister of water resources, Sarah Ochekpe admitted that Nigeria was not on track to meet MDG’s target of achieving 65% coverage of sanitation and hygiene.
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