WateraAid Nigeria in its efforts to ensure that water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) becomes affordable and accessible to all Nigerians has introduced its new pilot projects called Sustainable Total Sanitation (STS) and Sanitation Marketing (SANMARK). According to Policy and Advocacy Officer, Mr Saheed, while speaking at the recent WaterAid Nigeria workshop targeted at the Media network on sanitation in Oturpko, Benue State said “STS promised to be effective and unique from their past projects such as (Community Led Total Sanitation) CLTS which according to him seemed counterproductive and as such producing relapsing effects particularly at stopping open defecation for improved basic sanitation and hygiene within the rural communities.
“Looking at strategic role Nigeria plays in Africa and how it contributes to WASH impacts in Africa, if Nigeria is still grappling with challenges of accessing basic sanitation then Africa as a whole has not been truly successful in achieving basic sanitation and hygiene, therefore it is expedient to keep learning from the past projects so as to achieve better results in the future projects, he explained. He further added that the WaterAid Nigeria has decided to come up with STS initiative in order to speed up the realisation of SDGs/Global Goal 6 which emphasizes the role of water and sanitation in all aspects of human existence.
Also speaking at the Workshop Mrs Nneka, Project Coordinator for STS/SANMARK, WaterAid Nigeria gave full specifics as well as feasible prospects of STS and SANMARK for all Nigerians. According to her, STS is a research project tailored to improve the effectiveness and sustainability of total sanitation approaches in 500 communities across fifteen local government areas in Ekiti, Enugu and Jigawa states. “STS and SANMARK are intended to complement CLTS project which is still going on in these mentioned states” STS/SANMARK would also encourage the businesses to invest, as it focuses on a range of new affordable latrine packages that will be produced and sold to local businesses in these 3 states where the pilot projects will be carried out” she alluded.