The Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Adamu on Sunday called on states to enact bye-laws to ban open defecation in the country.
Adamu, who made the call at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja, said the call became necessary following continuous practice of open defecation in parts of the country.
He said that it was a matter for regret that Nigeria is the second largest country after India with over 66 million of its population defecating in the open.
According to him, when this law becomes operational, it will check the practice, fine offenders and also encourage people to construct and use their toilets.
He said that Nigeria had developed a Roadmap and Action Plan to reposition the water and sanitation sector, saying there was a pledge to end open defecation by 2025, before the end of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“One of the key issues we are asking the states to do is to put up a legislation to ban open defecation, state governments must look at their building codes to enforce the need for people to build toilets, the appropriate kinds of toilets in their houses; there must be more public toilets, public buildings should be able to open up toilet facilities for people, this is what is happening all over the world. Read more