The Federal Ministry of Water Resources and its Education counterpart, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to improve access to Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in all government-owned educational Institutions in the country.
The MoU tagged, “SchoolWASH Programme” is aimed at improving the crosscutting issues of water and sanitation, as it impacts on different sectors of education, health, economy, among others.
At the event in Abuja on Tuesday, Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, said the partnership became necessary following low access to potable water and sanitation facilities in educational institutions in the country.
He said data from WASH normal routine mapping shows that only 10 per cent of schools had access to safely managed sanitation services.
He said the partnership with the education ministry was timely as it would jointly provide the leadership in ensuring a collective resolution of these disheartening statistics.
“The SchoolWASH Programme which is the basis of this MoU, is designed to identify the WASH needs and bridge the WASH service gap across our Educational Institutions.
“Through this initiative, the Federal Government is leading by example in the provision of adequate WASH services to its own managed schools”.
The minister said it was expected that the SchoolWASH Programme would serve as a catalyst to spur investment in the water and sanitation sector in all government educational institutions.
“The contribution and commitment of everyone, government at all levels, civil society, private sector, development partners, traditional and religious institutions, and the entire populace is critical in this regard.
“My Ministry has already made the needed budgetary provision for the take-off of the SchoolWASH programme in its 2023 budget appropriation and we are confident that we will make appreciable progress by the year 2030”.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, said though the data from access to sanitation facilities and potable water was low, the partnership would help to reverse the trend.
According to him, the ministry will ensure full compliance to the provisions of the MoU, saying this would be given priority of attention.
“The MoS is something that we should have signed much earlier, my prayer is that the next ministers of water resources and education will take it seriously as we have done.
“All cooperation will be given to the federal ministry of water resources in meeting this target and we will ensure that we bequeath something sustainable to the next administration”.
The education minister added that without access to WASH, educational Institutions in the country would not function optimally.