The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and UNICEF has commenced the 2021 WASH-NORM survey.
This is to track the latest information on access to portable water, sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria.
A release issued by the Head, Public Affairs and International Relations Unit, Mr. Ichedi Sunday Joel, says, the survey is the third in a series conducted in 2018 and 2019.
The release noted that the 2019 survey revealed that households in Nigeria spent up to 3.3 trillion Naira or 9 Billion dollars on water, sanitation and hygiene.
According to the release, the 2018 survey also indicated that about 68 percent of Nigerians have access to basic drinking water services as against 70 percent in 2019 while the use of basic sanitation services was 42 percent in 2018 as against 44 percent in 2019.
It further explained that the 2018 report also shows that 47 million Nigerians practise open defecation as against 46 million in 2019 while in 2018 only 21 percent of the households had hand-washing facilities available on the premises with water and soap as against 16 per cent that had access to basic hygiene services.
The NBS noted that it is against this backdrop that the third survey is being conducted to provide quality data to the Federal Government to enable evidence-based decision making and efficient application of resources towards the improvement of access to water, sanitation and hygiene in Nigeria.
