In a renewed effort to improve healthy living, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s commitment to strengthening hygiene, sanitation, and access to safe water across the country.
Utsev said the government is advancing this goal through key initiatives such as the National Action Plan for the Revitalization of the WASH Sector, the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign, the Partnership for Expanded Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH), and the Sustainable Urban and Rural WASH (SURWASH) project.
The Minister spoke during the commemoration of the 2025 Global Handwashing Day with the theme, “Be a Handwashing Hero,” an annual United Nations event aimed at promoting hand hygiene and raising awareness of its critical role in preventing disease and saving lives.
A statement by the Director of Information and Public Relations of the Ministry, Mrs. Funmi Imuetinyan, quoted the Minister as advising Nigerians to take personal and collective responsibility for promoting hygiene practices that ensure healthier communities.
He noted that the theme signifies a shift from passive awareness to active participation, calling on citizens, policymakers, and development partners to become true champions of hygiene.
The Minister announced that the Ministry is revising the National Action Plan to include a dedicated hygiene component and reaffirmed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s commitment to implementing the Nigeria Roadmap to Hand Hygiene for All.
He also urged institutions — particularly schools, health facilities, and workplaces — to promote hand hygiene through improved infrastructure, sustained behavioural change campaigns, and inclusive access for all, including persons with disabilities.
While appreciating development partners such as Reckitt, UNICEF, WaterAid, Action Against Hunger, Sightsavers, and Self-Help Africa for their continued support toward achieving SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation, Prof. Utsev encouraged the private sector to invest more in hygiene and sanitation to promote sustainability and innovation in the WASH sector.
He also enjoined all Nigerians to become “Handwashing Heroes,” emphasizing that “a child spared from disease today is a future empowered, and a community with safe hygiene is one with dignity.”
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation, Mr. Richard Pheelangwah, represented by the Director of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement, Mr. Moses Jo-Madugu, welcomed participants to the 2025 Global Handwashing Day in Abuja, emphasizing collective action and behavioural change as key to making handwashing with soap a daily habit for improved public health.
Delivering goodwill messages, representatives of UNICEF, Reckitt, and the Network of WASH in Nigeria (NEWSAN) collectively underscored the importance of information dissemination in preventing disease through handwashing. They emphasized that achieving universal hand hygiene is a shared responsibility that requires coordinated and collaborative efforts among all stakeholders.