The Federal Ministry of Water Resources has announced additional seven local government areas in the country as open defecation-free, bringing the number to 100.
This was disclosed by the minister, Engr Suleiman Adamu, in a statement signed by the director of press and public relations in the ministry, Kenechukwu Offie.
Adamu expressed happiness with the effort as the National Task Group on Sanitation, a multi-sectoral platform involving line ministries, agencies and the media certified and declared the local government areas free of open defecation.
This he said is a sign of progression in the campaign against the habit in the country.
The minister recalled that as at 2017, only one local government area in Cross River State was ODF, on which President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 declared a state of emergency on water, sanitation and hygiene sector and flagged off the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign in November 2019 towards making Nigeria open defecation free by 2025.
The minister commended Jigawa State for being the first open defecation free state in Nigeria, while he gave the breakdown of the other states as: Anambra (3), Akwa Ibom (1), Bauchi (7), Benue (9), Borno (2), Cross River (6), Kano (11), Kaduna (5), Katsina (24), Osun (1), Yobe (1), Zamfara (3) respectively.
He said the exercise was a significant milestone and enjoined other states yet to be ODF to connect to it in order to achieve the target in year 2025.
