Nigeria targets African toilet revolution from upcoming summit–FG
The Federal Government on Sunday pledged to commence a toilet revolution that will encourage African countries to build and use toilets for a healthier and hygienic society.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in preparations to the upcoming World Toilet Summit, to hold in Abuja.
NAN recalls that Nigeria will be the second country in Africa to host the summit from Nov, 18 to 19, with a theme: ‘‘Towards Sanitation Innovations for Economic Development”
Walson-Jack said the summit was expected to enable participants, exhibitors and other stakeholders in the water and sanitation sector have wider range of vision within the sanitation value chain.
According to her, the summit is organised by the Government of Nigeria, the Organized Private Sector in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (OPS-WASH) and the World Toilet Organisation.
She said the summit would be a platform for stakeholders, development partners and high-level decision makers to better strategise and address in-country sanitation challenges.
Walson-Jack said: “ The hosting rights was granted to Nigeria earlier this year by the WTO, and Nigeria is the second country in Africa to be granted the hosting rights after South Africa in 2012.
“The 2022 World Toilet Summit’s theme is ‘Sanitation Innovations for Economic Development’. It is geared towards bringing to the fore the opportunities in the circular sanitation economy and the enabling environment needed to maximise it.
“The summit is expected to expose the investment opportunities in sanitation sector that could be taken up by the private sector.
“This would drive demand and increase access to sustainable sanitation services in the country, thereby accelerating the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign to end open defecation in Nigeria by 2025.’’
The permanent secretary said the overall gain of the summit to the African continent as a whole was that it was expected to bring about an African toilet revolution.
She said that such a gathering of personalities, would improve collaboration in driving accelerated access to sustainable sanitation services.
Walson-Jack said efforts were on to receive all the participants, assuring them of a beautiful stay in the nations’ capital.
She said that the global sanitation crisis had affected 3.6 billion people due to under funding and poorly managed sanitation, adding that the summit would accelerate the national open defecation-free road map by 2025.
By Tosin Kolade
