Federal Government urges Nigerians to join in the fight against Open Defecation

The Federal Government says it will embark on an aggressive drive to end open defecation in the country.

To this end, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources is to collaborate with the National Orientation Agency, NOA, to disseminate the information on the best ways to eradicate open defecation Nigeria.

Nigeria is considered among the few countries in the World where a large percentage of the population still engage in open defecation.

Addressing newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, said the sensitization campaign against open defecation would commence in 12 states of the federation.

Adamu stressed the federal government’s determination to end open defecation and for citizens of the country to have access to portal water by 2030.

He said the ministry is collaborating with the NOA to leverage on their platforms in the 774 local governments in the country, on information dissemination, to help stop open defecation.

The Minister noted that open defecation breeds such diseases as cholera, typhoid, diarrhea, owing to its unhygienic tendencies and appealed to Nigerians to help the government in ending this menace.

Receiving the Water Resources Minister and his entourage to his office, the Director General National Orientation Agency, NOA,  Garba Abari, said the agency was ready for the social change.

Abari appealed to the citizens to take interest in the campaign to raise sufficient awareness in the fight against open defecation in the country.

He promised that the NOA will mobilize its manpower and resources to ensure that Nigerians are sensitized on the dangers and implications of open defecation.

Asked to comment on the 2020 Water Resources Bill currently under consideration by the National Assembly, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, declined to speak on the bill.