Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Services in Niger State North Central Nigeria: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Water and sanitation services in Niger state, north central Nigeria has met with success in some places and outright failure in some other places in the state mainly as a result of climatic, geological and cultural factors. Climatic factors determine the amount of rainfall available for groundwater recharge in the areas while geological factors determine the availability or otherwise of groundwater for boreholes and wells, cultural factors are the attitude of the people towards the facility, most especially sanitary facilities. Common sources of water in most of the communities are hand dug wells, streams and rivers where available. Provision of boreholes has always been welcome by the communities and does not suffer much problem as sanitation facilities. Major challenges facing universal attainment of water and sanitation services can be political, social and cultural factors, this includes poverty and high illiteracy levels among community members