Minister urges state govts. to declare state of emergency on WASH

Fri, Nov 15, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Politics

SULIEMAN Adamu, the Minister Water Resources has called on State Governments to declare state of emergence on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in their various states.

Adamu made the called at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Friday in Abuja.

In 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari on Nov. 8, declared a state of emergency in the sector and emphasised that Nigeria must end open defecation by 2025.

“For Nigeria to achieve Open Defecation Free (ODF) in the country by 2025, it is imperative for water and sanitation facilities to be in place.’’

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“We want state governments to also declare a state of emergence on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene the way the President declared same on Nov. 8, last year.

“The latest state that I have heard that has done so is Kastina state, which was done two days ago, so we are moving in that direction.

“Part of the actions that they need to take after declaring the state of emergence is also to put legislation to ban open defecation.

“But you do not ban without providing alternatives, and government at state level will also need to put in money to improve sanitation in motor parks, markets and other public places.

“Then there is an Executive Order that is going to be signed by the president to direct all government agencies, including enforcement agencies to ban open defecation that it is a crime,’’ he said.

He, however, noted that the Executive Order would be shared to various agencies after the signing the order for the public to know what it contained.

Adamu said that Mr President had promulgated the campaign against open defecation in the country to ensure that Nigeria would be Open Defecation Free by 2025.

Adamu said that it was mandatory for all federal agencies to maintain adequate toilets in their buildings while commercial building should also open up their toilets facilities for the public.

The minister also noted that at the federal level, advocacy, funding, and campaigns would be carried out to ensure behavioural change.

“The campaign will actually be driven by the states themselves, we expect that we will mobilise people such as the civil society, corporate bodies, Nollywood, market women, among others to do the campaign.

“We also hope that individuals and organisations can be sponsoring toilets in schools, medical institutions as the campaign is total, so that there will be a culture of respecting toilets and they need to provide these toilets.

“This is not about Federal Government and state governments going to houses to build toilets for people. That is the responsibility of individuals.

“We will like to demonstrate that it can also be a business running a toilet and water facilities can also be a business too in the society and in the rural areas,‘’ he said.

Adamu noted that state government and local government would be able to assist its people in building the toilets.

He said that at the federal level, the government would do the monitoring and evaluation of the progress to ensure that Nigeria achieved open defecation free by 20125.

NAN

– Nov. 15, 2019 @ 18:20 GMT |

 

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