…Seeks collaborative effort to end menace

Open defecation

By Shina Abubakar – Osogbo

Wife of Osun State Governor, Kafayat Oyetola has stressed the need for the 759 local government chairmen in Nigeria to eliminate open defecation to curb avoidable diseases, especially among children.

She said only 15 local government areas were declared open defecation-free throughout the country with one in Osun state.

The president of the Ilerioluwa Development Initiative challenged other council chairmen in the state to toil the path of Ifedayo local government with a view to ending the menace in their various domains.

Defecating in the fields, shrubs, backyards of our houses, still or running water bodies, forests and anywhere other than clean toilets or latrines contribute immensely to the quality of life, especially mortality rate among children.

This data, when further analyzed showed that out of the local government areas in the country, only less than 16 do not contribute to this danger.

According to UNICEF survey, those Open Defecation Free Local Government areas were in Jigawa, Benue, Bauchi and Cross River States until a few weeks ago.

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I am happy to announce that Osun has joined the above-named states as we have got one of our local government areas, Ifedayo Local Government declared and certified as Open Defecation Free.

This is good news. It is a remarkable achievement by all of us.

Earlier in his address, a former Director of Hygiene and Sanitation, Segun Moyinoluwa disclosed that death of children under age 5 across the country is majorly due to disease arising from open defecation activities.

He said about 500 children died annually from the menace and sought for a collaborative effort toward eliminating the menace.

Also in his goodwill message, Sanitarian Tope Akinwumi stressed the need to empower local government authorities to combat waste management and tackle the issues of open defecation.

He said the tier of government is the closest to the people, hence, should be allowed to tackle the menace accordingly.

Vanguard News Nigeria.