WaterAid Nigeria recently commissioned a study on a Context analysis of urban sanitation in Enugu, Kano and Warri. The study was part of our commitment to support states and cities utilise the window of the National Action Plan (NAP) in improving access to safely managed and inclusive services. The study also aimed to further gain insights on key barriers and opportunities for catalytic progress in expanding inclusive sanitation access and the management of human waste across the sanitation value chain.  

The findings were both shocking and appalling, but also revealed huge potentials for job and wealth creation in the sanitation value chain with the right systems in place. According to the study, over 503, 206 litres of faecal sludge is produced daily in Kano with only 17 percent safely disposed; over 127, 550 litres of faecal sludge is produced daily in Enugu with only about 25 percent safely disposed; and over 96, 127 litres of faecal waste daily is produced daily in Warri with only 25 percent safely disposed.

The study also found that there are policies at national and state levels that are intended to address sanitation challenges but mostly combine water and sanitation to the degree that sanitation is largely overshadowed in terms of details, targets and budgets. In many cases, the policies do not make provision for faecal sludge management. Across the study cities, it was found that the content of sanitation related state policies are generally not amenable to private sector participation and citizens’ ownership and the oversight functions on sanitation are fragmented across different MDAs. No agency was identified as having its mandate or operations covering all areas of the sanitation chain and there was no recognised coordination platform to streamline all sanitation services, given the fact that all components of the sanitation chain are inter-twined.