’77 per cent of Bauchi State residents using pit toilet’

A coalition of civil societies on water, sanitation and hygiene have said that more than 77 per cent of Bauchi State residents are still using pit toilet.

The CSO made the claim while marking this year’s International Hand Washing Day on Thursday.

The leader of the Coalition, Sodangi Chindo, announced that about 71.7 per cent of the toilets do not have handwashing facilities with soap.

The Guardian’s check on the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the Bauchi State’s population estimate in 2016 was put at 6,537,314. By this claim, 5,033,732 are currently using pit toilets.

The coalition that comprises Clean Family Campaign, Women Development Association for Self Sustenance and WaterAid, said “3.9million people in the State lack access to combined water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services (JMP,2019). This lack of access impacts on education and health outcomes, contributing to the spread of contagious diseases like cholera and Covid-19.

“Despite the fact that great percentage of households access water wells and water vendors which are vulnerable to contamination. Only 15% of households treat their water before drinking while 84.7% do not carry out any form of treatment,” they said.

According to them, the current outbreaks of cholera in the state was largely attributed to indiscriminate waste (solid and liquid) disposal, inadequate clean water supply within Bauchi metropolis and its environs.

The coalition demanded that, WASH services provided in communities and grassroots. They also want the scaling up of the clean family campaign in every local council, domestication of WASH COVID-19 guidelines and state action plan.

They also requested that the state budget adequately reflects prevention strategies in tackling infectious diseases.