Economic and Political Barriers to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Sustainability in Nigeria: Adopting the Person-Centered Social Work Integrated Support

Abstract

The operation of the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme in Nigeria notwithstanding, water and sanitation crises take serious tolls on the population, particularly the children, who have the universal inalienable right to clean water and hygiene for proper development and growth. Besides WASH program, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is an international Legal Instrument ratified by Nigeria and domesticated in the country since 2015. The SDG 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation – aims to ensure a world in which everyone has access to clean water, basic sanitation and hygiene between 2015 and 2030. Nigeria and other African countries are reportedly not on course for the achievement of this goal. This case study ascertained the significant barriers to WASH provision and adoption and interrogated the level of their co-relationship in Nigeria. Factorization of the literature submissions and expert suggestions was used to determine the significant barriers. Co-relational analysis was used to ascertain the relationship among the significant barriers. Results showed that population growth, climate change, increased water scarcity, lack of political will, unequal distribution of resources, and insufficient funding were significant socio-institutional barriers. COVID-19, policy inadequacy, policy inconsistency, policy poor implementation, and policy summersault were significant socio-political barriers. The barriers were significantly co-related. Co-joint handling of the barriers and frequent interrogation for update of WASH barriers and appraisal of progress towards achieving SDG 6 by 2030 were recommended.