NBS, UNICEF to conduct survey on water access, open defecation nationwide

By Etuka Sunday

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and UNICEF is to conduct WASH – NORM Survey in Nigeria to collect latest information on improved Water access, the percentage of Nigerians who are involved in open defecation, and general sanitation practices.
WASH is an acronym for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, while NORM is National Outcome Routine Mapping.
The bureau in a statement said, the survey would provide further context on previously published data on water access, sanitation, and open defecation.
It said, “in 2013, the NDHS Report showed that 34% and 59.6% of Nigeria’s population had access to improved sanitation and improved water sources respectively. Additionally, 28.7% of Nigerians still engage in open defecation.
“These incidences pose a significant risk to public health and wellbeing, and more information is needed to gain further insight into this challenge to develop appropriate and better-informed solutions,” NBS said.
In the light of the above, NBS said, “the WASH–NORM Survey is being conducted to provide quality data to the Nigerian Government to enable evidence based decision making as well as the efficient application of resources towards the improvement of access to WASH Services in Nigeria.
“The Survey will cover all the 36 States of the federation, including the FCT.
“Forty (40) enumeration areas will be selected for study in each of the States and FCT, except Lagos and Kano where 40 enumeration areas will be selected based on each of the senatorial zones.
“NBS enumerators will be in the field to collect data from respondents for sixteen (16)days beginning from 26th April 2018.
“NBS kindly appeals to respondents to give our enumerators the required information for a successful conduct of the survey,” the statement said.