Only 20 per cent of schools have good toilets in northeast- UNICEF

Only 20 per cent of schools have good toilets in northeast- UNICEF

By: Omirin Joshua

The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (NICEF) has lamented that only 20 per cent of the public schools have good toilet facilities in the Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states of the northeast region.

The global agency’s North-East Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Manager, Mamita Bora Thakkar, disclosed this in Maiduguri on Friday, at a news briefing preparatory to this year’s World Toilet Day celebration, which comes up on Sunday, November 19.

She charged the BAY state government to improve the allocation of funds for the maintenance of toilets in schools that further enhance the enrollment of girls child in the region.

“Presently we are supporting the BAY states to ensure more girls children go to school and hygiene plays critical roles.

“You know that one the challenges facing public schools is access to good and adequate toilets, only 20 per cent of BAY State Public Schools have good toilets and we are calling on the government to do more by setting aside funds for the ministry for the maintenance.

“We need to accelerate our efforts at achieving access to universal sanitation.”

“Only 104 out of the 774 LGAs in the country are open defecation-free,”

“With just seven years left until 2030, Nigeria is alarmingly off track about achieving the SDGs on universal access to sanitation,” she warned.

Thakkar noted UNICEF has constructed almost 200 schools across BAY states, describing sanitation and drinking water as human rights, saying, “Access to these services is critical to people’s health and the integrity of the environment.”

Only 20 per cent of schools have good toilets in northeast- UNICEF