The World Bank has approved a $700 million loan made by Nigeria to tackle open defecation and other sanitary problems in the country.

Specifically, the loan will cater for Nigeria’s Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation, and Hygiene Programme (SURWASH).

This was announced in a statement on its website in Washington D. C. on Thursday.

According to the statement, the credit will provide six million people with basic drinking water services, and 1.4 million people access to improved sanitation services.

It would also deliver improved Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services to 2,000 schools and health care facilities and assist 500 communities in achieving open defecation-free status.

These would be implemented as part of the federal government’s National Action Plan (NAP) to revitalise Nigeria’s water supply, sanitation, and hygiene sector.

“In 2019, approximately 60 million Nigerians were living without access to basic drinking water services, 80 million without access to improved sanitation facilities and 167 million without access to a basic handwashing facility.

“In rural areas, 39 per cent of households lack access to at least basic water supply services, while only half have access to improved sanitation and almost a third (29 per cent) practice open defecation, a fraction that has marginally changed since 1990,” said the statement.

The bank, however, said in recent years, the government had strengthened its commitment toward improving access to WASH services, spurred on by the need for Nigeria’s WASH sector to catch up with its regional counterparts.

This, it said, led to the government declaring a state of emergency in 2018 and launching NAP aimed at ensuring universal access to sustainable and safely managed WASH services by 2030, commensurate with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It also said the programme would support NAP which was a 13-year strategy prioritising action within three phases.

Shubham Chaudhuri, World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, said the programme’s centrality to the human capital agenda and its potential to influence key human capital outcomes could not be overemphasised.

The $700 million is from the bank’s International Development Association (IDA).