The United Nations Children’s Fund has said that about 70 million Nigerians do not have access to safe water while over 110 million people do not have access to improved sanitation.

The agency therefore said Nigeria is currently not on-track with regards to attaining water and sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals.

UNICEF in a statement issued in Abuja by its Communications Specialist (Media and External Relations), Mr. Geoffrey Njoku, in commemoration of this year’s World Water Day with the theme: “Water and Sustainable Development,” said the poor and vulnerable group “bear the greatest brunt of this lack of access to water and sanitation.”

Njoku added that around the world, about 2.3 billion people worldwide have gained access to improved sources of drinking water since 1990. He said the MDGs target of having the percentage of the global population without access was met in 2010. He said, “In the case of sanitation, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide still do not have adequate toilets and among them one billion defecate in the open. With some 70 million people without access to safe water and over 110 million people without access to improved sanitation, Nigeria is currently not on-track with regard to its attainment of Water and Sanitation targets.

“The poor bear the greatest brunt of this lack of access to water and sanitation. For women and girls, collecting water cuts into time they can spend caring for families and studying. In insecure areas, it also puts them at risk of violence and attack.”