Kwara State government said it has opened windows for dialogue, collaboration and support with all partners in accelerating progress towards putting an end to open defecation in the state.
The state commissioner for water resources, Mrs Risikatullahi Abdulmaliq-Bashir, disclosed this while playing host to the Clean Nigeria Campaign Secretariat team from the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, Abuja in her office in Ilorin, the state capital.
She added that the launching of the Clean Nigeria Campaign was not a rush, stressing that it requires all hands to be on deck to strengthen all the enablement and further empower the campaign on open defecation.
“Kwara is moving and we are running a race, as the number one marathon in Nigeria and we will definitely not disappoint you definitely”, Abdulmaliq-Bashir assured.
Earlier, the national coordinator, Clean Nigeria Campaign and leader of the team, Mrs Opara Chizoma, represented by her deputy, Mr Musa Lawal, applauded Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his efforts and support to drive the campaign to end open defecation in the state.
“You will recall that the Clean Nigeria Campaign was launched in 2019 by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (GCON). This was in response to Nigeria’s unfortunate position as the second country with the highest number of people practicing open defecation globally, estimated at 48 million persons according to the 2021, WASH NORM Report, while access to sanitation in Kwara State was 31 percent and 50 percent of her population still practice open defecation”, the coordinator noted.
The campaign, according to her, is aimed at mobilising high level political support, resources and the entire populace towards building a new culture of good sanitation practices in the country.
The primary aim of eliminating open defecation, she said, is to reduce WASH associated diseases and burden in order to ensure dignified lives for the people of Moro local government area and the generality of Kwarans.
Also, the permanent secretary in the state’s Ministry of Water Resources, Alhaji Yahaya Mohammed encouraged everyone to take the campaign to the rural areas in order to eradicate open defecation in the state.
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