The United Nations Children’s Fund Chief for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Nigeria, Ms. Jane Beavan, has urged residents of Oyo State to support the efforts of the government to end open defecation.
Speaking on Wednesday in Ibadan at a one-day media dialogue organised by the Oyo State Ministry of Information in collaboration with UNICEF, Beavan said more than half of the people in the state lacked access to safe toilets.
According to her, “Children are the ones that suffer the most when there are outbreaks of diseases like cholera and others.
“More than half of the people of Oyo (state) do not have access to safe toilets, and that means more than half of the population practise open defecation.
“I spoke with the deputy governor this morning and I am happy that he is committed to doing everything to ensure an end to open defecation.”
The Chairman, Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Mr. Najeem Omirinde, said residents needed to join the government to end open defecation.
He said he had spoken to former Governor Rashidi Ladoja about the launch of the ‘Open Defecation Free Roadmap in Oyo State’ and he had promised to call all heads of compounds to show examples by building toilets in their family houses.
He said the state government would not build toilets for individual houses but would ensure that schools, hospitals and public places have toilets, which he said would discourage open defecation.