VP Shettima Urges Govs To Step Up Efforts Against Open Defecation

The Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, has implored governors of the 36 states of the federation to double efforts in the ongoing campaign to ensure Nigeria is open defecation-free in the next five years.

According to him, the importance of the campaign cannot be overemphasised, as every step taken towards ending open defecation will improve health, boost productivity, and enhance the dignity and safety of Nigerians.

The Vice President made the call on Tuesday during the 5th anniversary of the ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet’ campaign where he also formally launched the Strategic Plan at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

VP Shettima, who was represented at the event by Deputy Chief of Staff to the President (Office of the Vice President), Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, urged state governments to be deliberate in mobilising “high-level political support that would drive the campaign, especially at the sub-national level.”

The sanitation sector in Nigeria, according to a statement by his spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha, he noted, has great economic opportunities for growth, explaining that aligning these opportunities with the renewed hope agenda of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can create jobs, provide alternative energy sources, and produce biological fertilizers.

The VP stated: “It is against this background that the need to re-strategise the critical elements that will progressively increase our level of advocacy and awareness came to be. The new Strategic Plan for the Clean Nigeria Campaign is a comprehensive, actionable framework for Clean Nigeria that will help to actualize the call for reasonable access to use a toilet by the year 2030.

“I, therefore, urge State Governors to provide the necessary support to drive the campaign at the State and Local Government Areas levels to achieve our target of an Open Defecation Free Nigeria within the next five years.”

The Vice President cautioned against the hazards of open defecation, saying it is “a critical public health and environmental issue that compromises our water sources, spreads disease, and negatively impacts the quality of life, education, and economic productivity of the populace.

He said inadequate sanitation facilities to address open defecation pose a great risk, especially to women, girls and vulnerable communities, assuring that the Tinubu administration is committed to the bid to end open defecation in Nigeria.

“The present administration is committed to the call for Open Defecation Free in Nigeria, as part of measures to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 target aimed at contributing to building a healthy and thriving nation. We are all aware that the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation rolled out several initiatives to bridge the existing gap of inadequate basic sanitation services,” he stated.

Senator Shettima applauded the support provided by stakeholders, especially state Governors, Chairmen of local government areas, national and state legislators, members of the international community, development partners, the private sector, civil societies, and the media.

In his opening remarks, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev, said the 5th anniversary of the campaign aligned with the World Toilet Day set aside by the United Nations to accelerate the drive towards Open Defecation Free in countries around the world.

He recalled that the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” campaign was launched in 2019 under the national programme to end open defecation in Nigeria and is backed by Presidential Executive Order 009.

Prof. Utsev explained that the campaign was informed by the unfortunate position of Nigeria as one of the countries with the highest number of people practicing open defecation, estimated at 48 million persons.

His words: “It is a transformative movement to end open defecation in Nigeria and since its commencement, appreciable progress has been made over the past few years, with One Hundred and Thirty-Five (135) LGAs having attended an Open Defecation Free status.

“More State Governments and Local Government Areas are currently undergoing a verification process in line with the National Protocol on Open Defecation Free, and over Thirty Thousand (30,000) other communities were certified as ODF. Despite all these attainments, the progress rate appears grossly inadequate compared to the Campaign target date of 2025, which expects nationwide advocacy.”

In his goodwill message, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Water Resources, Senator (Engr.) Eze Kenneth Emeka, thanked the federal government for coming up with the campaign of clean water and ending open defecation, saying no one should lose focus of the target to terminate it in 2025.

He commended the government through the Ministry of Water Resources for coming up with the initiative of sustaining the campaign and setting the target to end the menace in 2025.