‘78m Children At High Risk Of Water-related Crisis In Nigeria’

As world leaders and relevant organisations convene for the United Nations 2023 water conference, UNICEF has called for urgent action to address the water crisis in Nigeria as water related crises threaten the lives of 78 million children in the country.

A new UNICEF analysis revealed that 78 million children in Nigeria are at the highest risk of a convergence of three water-related threats – inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); related diseases; and climate hazards.

UNICEF Nigeria chief of WASH, Dr. Jane Bevan, in a statement on Monday, said  “If we continue at the current pace, it will take 16 years to achieve access to safe water for all in Nigeria. We cannot wait that long, and the time to move quickly is now. Investing in climate-resilient water, sanitation, and hygiene services is not only a matter of protecting children’s health today, but also ensuring a sustainable future for generations to come.”

She said in Nigeria, one-third of children do not have access to at least basic water at home, and two-thirds do not have basic sanitation services.

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“Hand hygiene is also limited, with three-quarters of children unable to wash their hands due to lack of water and soap at home. As a result, Nigeria is one of the 10 countries that carry the heaviest burden of child deaths from diseases caused by inadequate WASH, such as diarrhoeal diseases.

‘Nigeria also ranks second out of 163 countries globally with the highest risk of exposure to climate and environmental threats. Groundwater levels are also dropping, requiring some communities to dig wells twice as deep as just a decade ago. At the same time, rainfall has become more erratic and intense, leading to floods that contaminate scarce water supplies, she said.

Bevan said there was a need to rapidly scale-up investment in the sector, including from global climate financing, strengthen climate resilience in the WASH sector and communities, increase effective and accountable systems, coordination, and capacities to provide water and sanitation services, and implement the UN-Water SDG6 global acceleration framework.