By Miriam Humbe
The Federal Government has said it would ensure that every Nigerian had access to safe, dignified and sustainable sanitation facilities.
This is even as the country joined the rest of the world to commemorate the 2026 World Toilet Day.
Minister of Environment, Mallam Balarabe Abbas Lawal, gave the assurance at a ministerial press briefing on Tuesday in Abuja.
The Minister was represented by the Director, Pollution Control and Environmental Health, Mrs Omotunde Adeola.
Balarabe Lawal said that sanitation goes beyond the provision of household conveniences or basic infrastructure, it is an essential public health intervention, an environmental safeguard and a fundamental requirement for human dignity.
He disclosed that approximately 4.5 billion people globally still lack safely managed sanitation, while 892 million continue to practise open defecation.
These figures, he said, underscore the urgency of accelerating action towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 6 on Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 5 on Gender Equality, SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-being, and SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities by 2030.
“The United Nations General Assembly designated 19th November of every year as World Toilet Day in 2013 to raise awareness of the global sanitation crisis and promote action towards achieving SDG 6.
The theme for this year’s commemoration was: “Sanitation and Gender Equality,” with the campaign tagline “Safe Toilets. Equal Futures.”
Lawal said, the theme highlights the importance of safe and secure toilets, access to soap and water, and adequate menstrual hygiene facilities in protecting the health, safety and dignity of women and girls.
It also reinforces the need to create an enabling environment for their full participation in education, employment and public life.
“In Nigeria, access to safe sanitation remains a major public health and environmental challenge. According to the National Demographic and Health Survey, access to improved sanitation remains below 36 per cent for the majority of the population.
“Many public places, including markets, motor parks, schools and communities, still lack adequate and functional toilet facilities. This contributes to open defecation, contamination of food and water sources, and the spread of poor sanitation-associated diseases such as cholera and typhoid”. He averred.
The Minister stressed that the consequences are particularly severe for women, girls, children, older persons and persons living with disabilities.
“No child should have to miss school because of inadequate toilet facilities, and no woman or girl should have to compromise her safety and dignity because of the absence of appropriate sanitation facilities,” he said.
The Federal Ministry of Environment, in collaboration with relevant Ministries, State Governments and development partners, continues to implement programmes aimed at promoting safe excreta disposal and improving sanitation nationwide.
These include capacity building and training of Environmental Health Officers on faecal sludge management and toilet design, integration of sanitation into climate adaptation and circular economy initiatives, the Clean and Green Programme, the Community-Based Waste Management and Open Defecation Control Programme, and partnerships with private sector actors to provide environmentally friendly sanitation facilities.
As part of this year’s commemoration, the Ministry, in collaboration with stakeholders, will hold a Community Engagement and Sensitisation Campaign at Kpadna Community, Utako, Abuja, on 19th November 2026.
The campaign will engage residents, traders, food vendors and other community members on proper sanitation, hand hygiene and safe waste disposal through interactive discussions, health talks and practical demonstrations by Environmental Health Officers.
The Kpaduma Community in the FCT, Abuja, will host the 2026 World Toilet Day celebration on November 19. The Minister invited all FCT stakeholders to join the commemoration.
The Ministry is also convening a National Dialogue on Faecal Sludge Management workshop on 23rd November 2026, involving seven selected States from the six geopolitical zones and the Federal Capital Territory, to assess and share experiences, challenges and interventions in managing faecal sludge.
The Minister also disclosed that World Toilet Day is being commemorated simultaneously across all States of the Federation through community sensitisation, advocacy campaigns and sanitary inspections of public places.
He stressed that the Government alone cannot achieve universal access to safe sanitation, noting that sanitation is everybody’s business.
He called on State and Local Governments to strengthen faecal sludge and wastewater management, communities and households to embrace proper toilet use and hygiene, the private sector to invest in affordable and innovative sanitation technologies, and development partners and NGOs to sustain support for advocacy and infrastructure development.
As Nigeria commemorates World Toilet Day 2026, the Minister called for renewed commitment to ending open defecation, eliminating unsafe sanitation practices, improving access to functional public toilets and ensuring that no Nigerian is left behind.
He further stressed that women and girls must not merely be beneficiaries of sanitation interventions but active participants in designing, implementing and monitoring sanitation solutions.
