By Tina George, Minna
For Nigeria to achieve Open Defecation-free status, over 9.5 million toilets and 10,000 sewage treatment plants would have to be constructed across Nigeria in the next five years, experts have said.
They made this observation at the technical session of the 26th National Council on Water Resources, currently holding in Minna.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday signed the Executive Order 009 entitled, The Open Defecation-Free Nigeria by 2025 and Other Related Matters Order, 2019.
In his presentation on, ‘Inclusive Water Resources Management: A Panacea to Job Creation’, the Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer Mangrove and Partners Limited, Timeyin Uwejamomere said that it is only through building these toilets that Nigeria can effectively tackle open defecation.
“Nigeria needs to build about two million toilets every year for the next five years, which means about 10,000 toilets every day for improved sanitation and proper hygiene.
“In all, in the next five years, we need nothing less than 9.5 million toilets and about ten thousand (10,000) sewage treatment plants across the country to get out from being the first globally in open defecation,” he said.
Commending Federal government for its ‘use toilet campaign’, Timeyin said that it is the only way to keep Nigeria clean and improve hygiene in the environment.
In her address, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs Comfort Ekaro, declared that Federal government was doing its best to ensure that it got out of being the first globally in open defecation.
“Sanitation and hygiene are part and topmost in our agenda at this event because we have launched an action against open defecation.
“Building of toilets especially public toilets is what we want everybody to participate fully because we want that negative title as number one globally in open defecation out. We can do it in the next few years.”
The Niger State Commissioner for Water Resources, Yusuf Suleiman, said that the state government is putting out modalities to build public toilets across the state in order to curb open defecation.
The 26th Regular meeting of the National Council on Water Resources, slates to end on Friday, has stakeholders from water, sanitation, and hygiene sub-sectors from across Nigeria in attendance.
