Sunday Okobi
Maker of global hygiene brands in Nigeria, Reckitt Nigeria, has renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources on the ‘Clean Naija Initiative’ to achieve a cleaner and healthier Nigeria.
The Clean Naija Initiative signing ceremony was attended by the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Hussein Adamu, alongside other top officials of the Ministry as well as the leadership team of Reckitt Nigeria.
Speaking at the ceremony, the General Manager, Reckitt Sub-Saharan Africa, Akbar Ali Shah, stated that: “Reports place Nigeria among the top nations that bear a significant portion of the global disease burden and high under-five mortality rates, and recent reports have estimated that 46 million Nigerians still defecate in the open.
“Many of these diseases such as diarrhea can be preventable by practicing proper hand washing habits and wide-scale hygiene education. We are elated to renew the partnership with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources on the Clean Naija Initiative, and this is a confirmation of the initiative’s success in the last three years.”
Speaking on the successes of the initiative, Shah mentioned that through its Dettol brand, “Reckitt Nigeria has initiated hygiene educational programmes committed to tackling some of these issues. They include the School Hygiene and New Mum’s Programme, through which the brand has educated millions of children and mothers on proper hand hygiene habits.”
He continued: “We also evolved our school hygiene programme with the introduction of a structured hygiene curriculum called ‘The Hygiene Quest’. The curriculum aims to educate children aged between six and eight years about hygiene and change behaviours. It comprises a range of modules that use comics, mini-games, physical worksheets, and activities to deliver learning.”
He said the curriculum was piloted in public schools in all 20 LGAs of Lagos State, “and our impact end-line assessment showed a 34 percent increase in knowledge of proper handwashing and a seven percent reduction in diarrhea among the participants after the intervention. We intend to extend this curriculum to other states when the school year resumes in September 2022.”
In his remarks, the Minister of Water Resources, Adamu said: “The report of the 2022 WASHNORM survey indicated that we still have a lot to do towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goal for water and sanitation, with access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene services estimated as 67 percent, 46 percent, and 17 percent respectively as at 2021.
“We will continue to drive the enabling environment for private sector players to contribute and invest across the water, sanitation, and hygiene value chain which can make significant contributions to the nation’s economic indices. We welcome Reckitt and other private sector organisations as a veritable partner in this journey.”
