By Saidu Idris
365Daily – The Federal Government has disclosed that Kwara and Plateau States have the biggest problem of open defecation in Nigeria.
The disclosure was made by the Director of Water Quality Control and Sanitation in the Ministry of Water Resources, Mr Emmanuel Awe, on Friday, May 21, 2021, at the 2021 First Quarter Lunch Time Seminar for Media Executives in Abuja.
He lamented that Nigeria has the highest number of persons defecating openly, saying no fewer than N455 billion is lost annually to poor sanitation.
Awe, therefore, called on all Nigerians to show commitment to ending open defecation in the country.
The Director added that his Ministry had so far inaugurated 77,400 Youth volunteers to act as ambassadors for sanitation and hygiene in the country.
According to him, the quoted data was from a survey Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping Survey (WASH-NORM) launched in 2018 to fill the chronic gaps in monitoring and routine assessment of the status of the WASH services in Nigeria.
He called for more investment in sanitation infrastructure to provide sustainable ways of safe disposal of wastes, business opportunities and improved productivity for all.
Speaking on the impact of poor sanitation, he listed underdevelopment of children, loss of manpower, low socioeconomic development, and others.
Going further, he said open defecation is a contributor to rising cases of kidnapping and sexual violence as searching for convenient places to answer the call of nature could lead to the crimes.
He added: “Open defecation contributes to rape and kidnapping cases that we hear about lately, we want everyone to take ownership of building and using their toilets at all times.”
In his contribution, Mr Benson Ajisegiri, who is the Director, Water Supply, said the Water Miinistry was working to improve access to potable water through the Partnership for Expanded Water Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) programme.