Presentation on public, private and people partnership model for sanitation at the 6th earth watch conference on water and sanitation 2008

Abstract

In 2002 at the world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg, the most significant achievement was that all governments agreed to a target to halve the proportion of people without access to adequate sanitation by 2015. Prior to this meeting, sanitation had never been an issue of it’s own on the development agenda. A topic that had once been a taboo subject became a topic that had received global concern at the summit. Sanitation encompasses a wide range of issues including human excreta disposal, personal hygiene, solid waste disposal, water, environmental cleanliness and drainage. The greatest challenge to Nigeria and the rest of the West African region is finding the much needed financial resources to fund sanitary intervention projects. According to UNICEF, Nigeria requires more than 120 million dollars (14 billion naira) to provide 62 million citizens access to basic sanitation and hygiene by 2015. (Reported in This day publication on March 26th 2008). The statistics were provided by the UNICEF “D” field office in Bauchi in response to a National survey on sanitation and hygiene undertaken by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN). The target is in line with the millennium development goal (MDG) on sanitation. Experts say this is a small amount in comparison to the billions of dollars worth of improved productivity that would come from improved hygiene and sanitation. The harsh reality as it concerns Nigeria and the West Africa region according to United Nations is that less than 40% of Africans have access to acceptable facilities for the safe disposal of human waste. In some of Africa’s overcrowded cities, human excreta is disposed of in plastic bags and thrown into ditches, open spaces, drains and open sewers. They are called “flying toilets”. In rural areas, less than a 1/3 of the people have access to toilets that efficiently separate waste from drinking water. It is clear that the practice of “open defecation” is fast becoming the normal practice. This is an unhealthy and undignifying practice which goes against the ideals of social human development. The result of such practices can be deadly. UNICEF reports indicate that diarrheal diseases mostly caused by poor sanitation and hygiene, kill nearly 2 million people around the world annually. Many of those affected are Africans. According to the UN agency, Nigeria needs to build more than eight million toilets before 2015 to achieve sustainable sanitation and hygiene. In essence, Nigeria requires at least one million toilets annually across the 774 local government areas. Three million dollars is required for hygiene intervention through the practice of hand washing with soap and water. Statistics given by UNICEF state that out of the country’s population of 140 million, only 53% of urban and 36% of rural dwellers have access to safe sanitation. Less than 43% of the populations have access to hand washing facilities. In the West African region, diarrhea is the largest cause of childhood mortality after malaria; representing about 16% of annual childhood deaths. The agency sees poor sanitation as the largest direct cause of diarrhea, malnutrition and pneumonia. With these statistics in mind, one has a clearer picture of some of the sanitary challenges facing Nigeria and the West African region. It is evident that a lack of resources is a major contributing factor to the continued existence of poor sanitary and hygiene practices. Research show that Government resources are targeted more towards the water sector. Sanitation has been labeled as the poor cousin who is often neglected during resource allocation. With this dismal scenario, one begs the question as to where do we go from here? Further pressure has been mounted by the United Nations in declaring 2008 as the International Year of sanitation. This paper seeks to identify initiatives using the public-private partnership model as a vehicle to provide the much needed finance in this sector.