By exi Elo
Latest snap poll results released by NOIPolls Limited have revealed that almost half of Nigerian households (48 percent) especially from North-East zone (69 percent) reported that access to clean water is a challenge to them. This figure represents a 1-point increase in this proportion of Nigerians from 2013 (47%), showing that in a span of two years (February 2013- March 2015) there has been no tangible improvement in the accessibility of water to Nigerians.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
More findings revealed that a significant proportion of Nigerians identified sachet water, popularly known as ‘Pure water’ (29 percent) as the major source of drinking water in their homes; representing a 2-point increase from 2013.
While this source of drinking water might be affordable and easily accessible to Nigerians, its hygiene and quality has been questioned by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) especially due to the process of packaging. This has led to closure of several sachet water factories by NAFDAC. In 2013, 54 sachet water factories were closed in Suleja and Minna of Niger state due to quality of production.
Other sources of drinking water cited by respondents include; ‘tap water’ (18 percent) ‘private borehole’ (17 percent), and ‘public borehole’ (14 percent), amongst other sources. These figures represent an increase in the proportion of Nigerians who have access to tap water (7-points) and public bore holes (8-points) in 2015 from 2013; thus indicating a progress in the federal government’s efforts through its ministry for water resources in providing portable water to Nigerian citizens through reformation programmes and several commissioned projects in various states.
Nevertheless, access to clean water still remains a major issue to Nigerians to some extent as indicated by a high proportion (72 percent: 47 percent+25 percent) of respondents in this category.
More findings revealed that toilets connected to private septic tanks are the most used sanitation facilities as reported by the majority of Nigerians (74 percent), while a significant proportion (22 percent) use pit latrine in their homes; representing an 11-points increase from 2013. This is mostly true for respondents from the North-West zone (45 percent). These are some of the key findings from the Access to Clean Water and Sanitation poll conducted in the week of March 2rd 2015.
The importance of clean water to human health cannot be over emphasized, water is life, yet supply to most cities in Nigeria is still a challenge. Safe drinking water and basic sanitation are of great importance for safeguarding human health, especially children. Diseases related to the consumption poor quality water have been identified as the major causes of the high rate of children’s illnesses and deaths, as a result of infectious diarrhoea especially in developing countries.
The Global Assessment of Water Supply and Sanitation data, produced by the World Health Organisation (WHO)/ United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Joint Monitoring Program, describes reasonable access to water supply as ‘the availability of at least 20 litres per person per day from a source within one kilometre of the user’s dwelling’.
One is not unaware of the fact that this is near impossible in Nigeria. This is evident as most residents in the rural area either resort to private wells, streams or rivers for the means of water they use daily, while among the over 90 million people living in the urban and semi-urban areas, less than half have reasonable access to reliable water supply.
Nigeria has been grappling with issues of water scarcity across a number of its states. Increasing population, rising demands for food and cash crops, increasing urbanization and rising standards of living are the major factors leading to shortage in supply of fresh waters. This ugly situation has compelled many households, often in the lower class, to end up buying water from water vendors.
While the federal government through its agencies is making efforts to providing portable water to Nigerians, it is imperative for the government to revive and increase the capacity of the water corporations to deliver potable water supply to the people and at a reasonable cost.
Against this background, NOIPolls conducted its recent poll on access to clean water and sanitation. The poll explored the accessibility of clean water to Nigerians, the level of challenge faced in accessing clean water and the awareness of any water or sanitation related project currently running in their localities. The poll also shows trends when compared to the previous Access to clean water and Sanitation poll conducted in February 2013.