Nigeria loses N455bn of GDP annually from poor sanitation, open defecation -UNICEF

From Ahmed Idris Birnin Kebbi

The UNICEF Chief Wash Specialist Mr. Bioye Ogunjobi has said that Nigeria loses about N455 billion of GDP annually on poor sanitation and a third of that cost is as a result of open defecation.
He stated this yesterday at the two days workshop on media dialogue on sanitation held in Kano titled: “ Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign”, adding that more than 100,000 children under five years of age die each year due to diarrhoea of which 90 percent is directly attributed to unsafe water and sanitation.
He said that Nigeria ranks second among countries practicing open defecation globally “according to the findings from the 2018 WASH National outcome Routine Mapping (WASH NORM) survey, 24 percent of the population 47 million people practice Open defecation.
The Cheif, said that in November 2018, the Nigerian president declared a State of emergency in the water, Sanitation and Hygiene (wash) sector, reaffirmed Nigerian’s commitment for eliminating Open defecation in the country and launched a National campaigned to Jump start the country journey towards becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF) by 2025.
“Clean Nigeria: Use the toilet” is an ambitious behavior change campaign in Nigeria with a strong citizen engagement component, leveraging on what is currently working best practice) in the States with local Government area and communities certified as ODF “ he added.