WaterAid Nigeria has called on Nigeria and other low- and middle-income countries to scale up funding in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector by investing at least $15 million annually to scale up access to WASH facilities in the country.

The Country Director of WaterAid Nigeria Evelyn Mere said this at a 2-day training of the Civil Society Organization on Budget Trend Analysis yesterday in Abuja revealing that the organization recently launched a 2023-2028 strategy to reach 400 million people globally with WASH related activity by the end of 2028 .

She mentioned that to enable them to reach the target, they have committed to attract $15 million annually to the WASH sector from low and middle income countries.

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She revealed that for the Nigeria strategy, WaterAid through its work intends to reach 10 million people with WASH, and with strategic partnerships with government and other actors, they intend to reach another 17 million people, bringing the total to 27 million people.

To achieve the goals, the country manager said they intend to work with CSOs as the bridge between development partners and the government.

She tasked civil societies to ensure that the government is aware of their responsibilities and held accountable for what they have promised to do, adding that they must help the government with the information they lack.

Mere stated that part of their strategy was to build partnerships by involving civil society and research institutions, private sectors and community groups, saying the core of the training is to equip CSOs with tools to hold government accountable, influence them to develop a balanced budget She said CSOs must have the ability to interpret the budget and ask the right questions.

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She also emphasized the need for a WASH investment plan that has all the expenditure components needed based on the existing gaps, such as the capital investment that needs to be made, the worn-out assets that need to be replaced, the cost of operation and maintenance of assets, and the cost of government officials who monitor for to ensure that services are delivered,

Mere explained that the WaterAid strategy aims to ensure universal access to safe, inclusive, climate-resilient WASH.

She added that the strategy is also aimed at influencing the government by lobbying them to replicate a sustainable model that would ensure universal access to WASH.