LG begins public campaign against open defecation

The Gwagwalada Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory has begun a
public enlightenment campaign on the dangers of open defecation in the
area.
Mr Tijani Ado, Head of Environmental Department of the council, told the
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gwagwalada on Tuesday that residents
would be sensitised against open defecation.
Ado said the campaign was necessary following the United Nation’s report
ranking Nigeria among the fifth countries globally where open defecation
was common.
“The UN report is correct. We see people not using toilets and
defecating in open places.
“We have started the campaign on health education on Friday.
“We have started going to villages with our vehicles, with public
address system to enlighten people about the sanitation activities and
the danger of not keeping the environment clean,’’ he said.
He said that the council was planning to build public toilets in
strategic and overcrowded places in the area under the Public-Private
Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
“We have now located sites and we are trying to see how the drawing by
the department of works of the council would look like.
“Adverts would be placed and interested persons could apply for the
building of public toilets, while we will supervise,’’ he explained.
NAN recalls that a recent report by United Nation Children’s Fund
(UNICEF) reveals Nigeria as one of the top five countries in the world
where many citizens prefer to defecate in the public.
The report revealed that the number of people with access to improved
sanitation facilities in Nigeria has dropped from 31 per cent last year
to 28 per cent this year.
It also revealed that 70 million Nigerians use shared latrines, while 32
million do not have latrines at all, adding that 6.5 million latrines
were needed to be built to eliminate open defecation in Nigeria.
UNICEF had confirmed that it was possible to improve the sanitation
situation in Nigeria, especially in rural areas, by engaging the
communities through a Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) approach.