Sanitation centre : a catalyst for the adoption of safe sanitation in small town, Yobe State, Nigeria : paper prepared for the West Africa Regional Sanitation and Hygiene Symposium, 3-5 Nov 2009, Accra, Ghana

Safe sanitation has been recognized as a necessity for the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals. Access to safe sanitation is low in Nigeria. Different approaches to promoting safe sanitation particularly safe excreta disposal has been implemented in Nigeria with little or no success. However, useful lessons were learnt to promoting best practices. The combination of community mobilization, hygiene promotion and sanitation centres promised to be a way of accelerating sanitation coverage in the country. Open defecation was found to be a major practice in most of the small town communities in Yobe State, Nigeria. At the planning stage of the project the people were sensitized on the importance of safe sanitation practices. A major challenge identified was the inadequate access to latrine construction materials, inadequate skill to construct safe latrines. In an attempt to address the challenge and in order to facilitate the construction of household latrines and prevent diseases the concept of sanitation centre was introduced. A public- private partnership model was adopted for the management of the sanitation centre with the Water Consumer Association in the community acting as regulator for the private sanitation centre operator. The establishment of these sanitation centres (sani-centre) and its presence in these communities has increased the construction of safe latrines, reduced the rate of open defecation and promoted other safe practices thereby reducing the incidence of diarrhea.(authors abstract)