Participants at the 2026 Day of the African Child celebration in Abuja call for improved water, sanitation, hygiene and child protection across Africa.
Stakeholders have called for increased investment in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools across Africa, warning that inadequate access continues to threaten children’s health, education and overall development.
The call was made in Abuja, during the 2026 Day of the African Child celebration, where participants stressed that ensuring universal access to clean water and sanitation is critical to securing a better future for African children.
The guest speaker of Federal Government Boys College, Wuye, Abuja, Oby Ezielo, urged students to adopt proper hygiene practices and contribute to maintaining clean and healthy environments.
She said “children must embrace personal cleanliness through regular handwashing, bathing and environmental sanitation while remaining committed to completing their education”.
According to her, children have an important role to play in building healthier communities and becoming responsible citizens. “Children should be clean. They should wash their hands. They should take their bath. They should all equally stay in school. It’s not only clean water. They should equally stay in school, finish their education, make the society and their parents proud”.
The Principal of the college, Joshua Ogunshina, said the commemoration provided an opportunity to draw attention to persistent challenges facing African children, including insecurity, inadequate access to basic services and disruptions to education.
He noted that banditry and insurgency continue to expose children, particularly school-age learners, to significant risks, underscoring the need for stronger measures to protect their welfare and guarantee uninterrupted access to education.
READ ALSO:
- Stakeholders Demand Better WASH Access for African Children
- JAMB to Support Sierra Leone in Launch of Centralised Admissions System
- Menstrual Hygiene: Foundation takes awareness to Abuja school
“sensitization to the plight of African child. Among them we have mentioned earlier bantry and insurgency facing children now especially schools. We are no longer talking about apartide now in South Africa. The Nigerian factor is now here.”
Also speaking, the Executive Director of De-Prime Initiative for the Advancement of Civil Liberty and Civic Duty, Dr. Chinwe Ogbuka, called on non-governmental organisations and development partners to complement government efforts by providing water and sanitation facilities in schools.
She said many schools still lack essential amenities and appealed to organisations with the capacity to support interventions that would improve learning conditions and safeguard children’s health.
“In some schools, NGOs’s come around to build to to to to dig hole for them for the school as their corporate social responsibility. It’s just to argument what government is doing”.
“So we appealing to other NGO’s who can there are so many of them who may not but, those who can to come and support government to ensure that all these amenities are provided for our own children for their own future”
A member of the Science and Medical Advisory Board, David Nwanchi, underscored the importance of safe water, warning that contaminated water poses serious health risks to children.
“The issue of water is critical. Water is even greater than food because food is prepared with water, and if the water is contaminated, definitely you are going to have food poisoning,” Nwanchi said.
On her part, the President of Women Inspire Africa, Tina Kenechukwu, urged African children to take pride in their identity while embracing healthy hygiene habits.
“It is an opportunity to remind children that they should be comfortable as black children and African children wherever they find themselves. They should also recognise that hygiene is very important for their health and well-being,” she said.
The Stakeholders agreed that improved access to water, sanitation and hygiene services remains essential to protecting children from preventable diseases, enhancing learning outcomes and securing a healthier future for Africa’s next generation.
The event, themed “Ensuring Universal Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Every Child in Africa,” brought together educators, health advocates and civil society organisations to advocate policies and interventions that will improve the well-being of children across the continent.
About The Author
