From Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has received nearly $10 million US dollars (over N4 billion) to improve the provision of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in three northern states.
UNICEF announced this in a statement on Wednesday. It said the fund was provided by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) for three northwest states.
‘The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has awarded UNICEF $9,978,800 over three years to support the Nigerian government’s initiative to improve water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in Kebbi, Sokoto a d Zamfara states in northwest Nigeria,’ it disclosed.
It said the support was meant to provide life-saving WASH services to the targeted 300, 000.
It said USAID’s assistance would help to build community-centred approaches to deliver, operate, and manage sustainable WASH services in rural areas. It said it would also help to foster resilience in communities, in collaboration with the governments of the targeted states.
‘USAID is dedicated to ensuring clean water for more Nigerians. This new activity with UNICEF will help reduce waterborne diseases to keep more people, especially children, healthy,” Mission Direction, Dr Anne Patterson was quoted in the statement.
About 30 per cent of Nigerians lack access to basic water services and less than 10 per cent have access to safely managed water services, according to the 2019 National Outcome Routine Mapping of WASH service (WASHNORM).