The Federal Government on Thursday announced that 100 Local Government Areas in Nigeria were now open defecation free.
Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, who announced this in Abuja, said the 100 Local Government Areas were in 13 out of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory.
Adamu disclosed this in a statement issued by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, as he noted that the country was able to record seven additional LGAs that were open-defecation-free.
The statement read in part, “The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, is happy to announce that on Wednesday, December 21, 2022, the National Task Group on Sanitation, a multi-sectoral platform involving line ministries, agencies, NGO network and the media, has certified and declared additional seven new Local Government Areas as open defecation free.
“This brings the total number of open defecation free Local Government Areas to 100. This is a significant milestone.”
Providing a breakdown, the minister said Jigawa was the first open defecation free state, as all 27 Local Government Areas in the state had been certified open defecation free.
Others include Anambra, which has three open defecation free Local Government Areas; Akwa Ibom, one; Bauchi, seven; Benue, nine; Bornu, two; Cross River, six; Kano, 11; Kaduna, five; Katsina, 24; Osun, one; Yobe, one; and Zamfara, three.
The minister recalled that as at 2017, only one Local Government Area, Obaniluku, in Cross River State was open defecation free.
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), declared a state of emergency in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector in 2018 and flagged off the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign in November 2019.
The campaign was backed by Executive Order 9, and its core aim was to make Nigeria open-defecation-free by 2025. Since the commencement of the campaign, there had been series of measures adopted towards achieving the target.
Last month, the United Nations applauded the Jigawa State government for becoming the first state in Nigeria to achieve open defecation-free status.
It then charged other state governments in Nigeria to emulate Jigawa by working hard to rid their domains of open defecation activities in order to halt diseases caused by poor sanitation.
The Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund in Nigeria, Cristian Munduate, gave the commendation and charge during her address at the recent World Toilet Summit 2022, organised by the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in Abuja.
The Federal Government had also revealed in November this year that 85 Local Government Areas in Nigeria were open defecation free at the time, with the promise to increase this number in line with the target and mandate of the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign.
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