Expert Wants CSOs To Advocate Increased Access To Water, Sanitation

A water expert, Mr Hope Ogbeide, has called on Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to advocate for increased access to water and sanitation in the country.

Ogbeide, the Coordinator of the Society for Water and Sanitation in the south-south, made the call while speaking with The Tide’s source yesterday in Abuja.

He said the CSOs should remind the Federal Government of its commitment in the endorsement of various water and sanitation declarations at regional and global levels.

The coordinator recalled that Nigeria had in 2008 ratified various protocols on water and sanitation at meetings in Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia, to fast track its water and sanitation goals.

“Usually when there is a law in place, it becomes easier for a group of people to take advantage of it to pursue their goals.

“In this case, CSOs have an opportunity in the fact that we have signed those conventions, to begin to mobilise to ensure that the National Assembly domesticates such conventions.

“Once that is done, the next step and next thing to be done is to advocate for its implementation because it is one thing to have those things in place and another for them to be implemented,’’ the expert said.

He advised the CSOs not to stop at advocacy, but to also monitor the impact of the particular activity they were advocating for.

“You also need to move from that primary success to ensure that there are sustained results from that particular action,’’ the expert said.

Ogbeide noted that if the Federal Government was committed to the sector, adequate resources would be provided and this would in turn lead to change.

“If those declarations are not implemented, it will definitely lead to under development, increased poverty and a cycle of water and sanitation diseases.

“The result of Nigeria not being committed to these declarations will be a failure to meet the target goals,’’ he said.