Only 134 LGAs In Nigeria Are Open Defecation Free – UNICEF

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said only 134 out of 774 local government areas in Nigeria are Open Defecation Free (ODF).

WASH Officer, UNICEF Kano field office, Ms Stella Ifeoma-Terver disclosed this recently at a media dialogue for news and programme managers from Katsina, Jigawa and Kano states held in Zaria.

She also disclosed that Open Defecation (OD) is responsible for spreading water and sanitation-related diseases such as diarrhea and vomiting, cholera, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis among others, noting that, one gramme of faeces can contain about 10 million viruses, 1 million bacteria, 1000 parasite cysts, and 100 parasite eggs.

“Globally, more than 3 billion people are without access to basic sanitation. In Africa, over 700 million do not have access to basic sanitation, 80% of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

“In Nigeria, 46 Million people are practicing open defecation,” she said.

Ifeoma-Terver, however, highlighted that, despite concerted efforts to end OD in Nigeria by 2025, the rate still remains high, with 640 LGAs yet to be certified ODF, pointing out 79 LGAs of Kano, Jigawa and Katsina constituting the 134 LGAs certified ODF – a region doing well compared to other regions of the country.

“Therefore, the nation needs to revise the Roadmap and set new targets to deliver 128 LGAs every year for the next 5 years until 2030.

“To achieve this, we need to develop and use innovative strategies like – Market-based sanitation, ODF communication strategy, sanitation pool fund and faecal sludge management (FSM),” she said.

In his remarks, the Fund’s communication specialist, Mr. Samuel Kaalu, tasked the managers on the need to accord priority on reporting issues that concern children and women which are often under reported.