The Nigerian Government has received $700 million credit from World Bank to provide six million people with basic drinking water services and 1.4 million people access to improved sanitation services.
This will be achieved through the execution of the Nigeria Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Programme (SURWASH), a statement on World Bank’s website said.
The SURWASH programme was designed to ensure improved water sanitation and hygiene services to 2,000 schools and Health Care Facilities and help 500 communities to achieve open defecation free status.
The World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Shubham Chaudhuri, stressed the importance of the programme, explaining that it would help the country to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
He added, “Given that access to WASH is an important determinant of human capital outcomes, including early childhood survival, nutrition, health, learning, and women’s empowerment – all of which in turn affect labour productivity and efficiency; the programme’s centrality to the human capital agenda and its potential to influence key human capital outcomes cannot be overemphasised.”
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“Participating States will be able to improve access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene which will help to keep more girls in school, create employment, and reduce open defecation, while developing greater resilience to the impact of climate change, as well as conflicts between different land and water users,” he added.
