ATTITUDE OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS OF SOUTH WESTERN NIGERIA TOWARDS UTILIZATION OF WATER SANITATION FACILITIES

The study examined the Attitude of rural households of south west Nigeria towards utilization of water sanitation facilities the study specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of the rural household heads; identified various sources of water supply and their providers; determined the attitude of respondents to the utilization of water sanitation facilities and identified the constraints to water sanitation facilities utilization. The population of the study comprised of all the rural households in Ondo and Oyo States in Southwestern of Nigeria. The sampling procedure employed was multistage sampling technique to select 355 household heads comprising a total of 167 rural household considered out of 278 rural households from the selected cells in Oyo state while a total of 188 rural household heads selected out of 314 rural household heads from the selected cells in Ondo State for the study. The data for the study were analyzed with descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage, mean and standard deviation while inferential statistical tools such as logistic regression analysis model and Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. The result revealed a mean age of the respondents from Ondo State was 47 years while that of respondents from Oyo State was 45 years. Rain water collection was the major source of improved water supply from Ondo State (87.4%) and Oyo State (86.7%). Majority had favourable attitude towards utilization of water sanitation facilities while the level of utilization of water sanitation facilities is still on moderate level. The result of the Regression analysis model indicated that years of schooling (t=-3.758***; p=0.000) and households' size (t=-2.089**; p=0.037) were significantly related to utilization of water sanitation facilities. It was therefore concluded that the utilization of water sanitation facilities was influenced by income level, household size and people's attitude/disposition towards water sanitation facilities. Since income level is a strong determinant of utilization of water sanitation facilities, there is need to make credit available to the rural households in case of breakdown of the facilities to enable immediate repairs thereby enhancing their health and utilization level.