Nigerian Government Reaffirms Commitment To Clean Nigeria, Use the Toilet Campaign

Vice President Kashim Shettima has implored Governors of the 36 states of the federation to double efforts in the ongoing campaign to ensure Nigeria is open defecation-free in the next five years.

 

READ ALSO:World Toilet Day: UNICEF, Kano Call for End to Open Defecation

 

According to him, the importance of the campaign cannot be overemphasized, as every step taken towards ending open defecation will improve health, boost productivity, and enhance the dignity and safety of Nigerians.

 

The Vice President made the call on Tuesday during the 5th anniversary of the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign where he also formally launched the Strategic Plan at the Conference Center of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

 

VP Shettima, who was represented at the event by Deputy Chief of Staff In his office, Ibrahim Hassan-Hadejia, urged state governments to be deliberate in mobilizing high-level political support that would drive the campaign, especially at the sub-national level.

 

The sanitation sector in Nigeria, he noted, has great economic opportunities for growth, explaining that aligning these opportunities with the renewed hope agenda of the administration of President Bola Tinubu can create jobs, provide alternative energy sources, and produce biological fertilizers.

 

The VP stated: “It is against this background that the need to re-strategise the critical elements that will progressively increase our level of advocacy and awareness came to be. The new Strategic Plan for the Clean Nigeria Campaign is a comprehensive, actionable framework for Clean Nigeria that will help to actualize the call for reasonable access to use a toilet by the year 2030.

 

“I, therefore, urge State Governors to provide the necessary support to drive the campaign at the State and Local Government Areas levels to achieve our target of an Open Defecation Free Nigeria within the next five years.”

 

He cautioned against the hazards of open defecation, saying it is “a critical public health and environmental issue that compromises our water sources, spreads disease, and negatively impacts the quality of life, education, and economic productivity of the populace.”

 

 

Risk

 

The Vice President added that inadequate sanitation facilities to address open defecation pose a great risk, especially to women, girls and vulnerable communities, assuring that the Tinubu administration is committed to the bid to end open defecation in Nigeria.

 

“The present administration is committed to the call for Open Defecation Free in Nigeria, as part of measures to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 target aimed at contributing to building a healthy and thriving nation. We are all aware that the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation rolled out several initiatives to bridge the existing gap of inadequate basic sanitation services,” he stated.

 

In his opening remarks, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, said the 5th anniversary of the Campaign aligned with the World Toilet Day set aside by the United Nations to accelerate the drive towards Open Defecation Free in countries around the world.

 

He recalled that the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign was launched in 2019 under the national programme to end open defecation in Nigeria and is backed by Presidential Executive Order 009.

 

Prof. Utsev explained that the campaign was informed by the unfortunate position of Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest number of people practicing open defecation, estimated at 48 million persons.