FG: more than 100,000 children below 5 die yearly due to diarrhea

Folalumi Alaran

The Federal Government has said that more than 100,000 children under the age of five die each year from diarrhea, with Ninety per cent of these deaths directly linked to contaminated water and poor sanitation.

The Minister of Water Resources Mr. Suleiman Adamu made this known at the 17th edition of the annual World Rivers Day on Monday in Abuja, the event was themed: “The Incredible Natural, Cultural and Recreational Values of Rivers, Lakes and Streams in our Communities.”.

Additionally, he said his ministry has started major projects to realize goals of increased access to clean and sufficient water to meet the country’s integrated and sustainable demands for sanitary, cultural, social, environmental, and economic development.

The Minister continued by stating that his office had begun an aggressive campaign to abolish open defecation throughout the FCT, beginning with Kuje Area Council, and that he was confident the area would be free of the practice by the end of the year.

He said, ” Alot is going on now in the federal capital city, the FCT administration has just given out about 80 locations for people to build public toilets, and then the clean Nigeria campaign.

” We want to make Federal Capital Territory as a model for the rest of the country. I think that’s our new approach now, so regarding open defecation at least in FCT I think very soon it will be a thing of the past because it’s private sector driven.

In addition, he exhorts well-meaning Nigerians and stakeholders to take charge of the protection and improvement of their nation’s waterways on their own rather than waiting for the government to act.

He added, “We are in a society where everybody is waiting for government to do everything; this is not supposed to be the case; I will like to see volunteers and champions.

“We are sending the message and we hope that the citizens will come to do the needful, even if it’s just a question of, okay, I will not drop this bottle in this river.

” FCT has given the land to the people who build the toilets themselves. And then they will charge a fee for people to use for whatever shower and the rest of it.”

The Minister stated that he had instructed the 12 River Basin Development Authorities and Agencies to carry out frequent and intensive lobbying campaigns for the restoration, protection, and conservation of rivers.

He stated that this would be carried out for the general development and management of all water resources within the framework of integrated river basin management.

In her opening remarks, the Permanent Secretary Didi Walson-Jack highlighted that our rivers have been degrading for far too long and emphasized the importance of protecting them for future generations.