Environment
Toro Local Government Area of Bauchi State is set to criminalise open defecation to prevent environmental and health hazards in the council area, Alhaji Adamu Geji, the Council Chairman, has said.
Geji, who stated this at a stakeholders meeting on Saturday in Toro LGA, said the council will not seat and watch people defecating openly, causing environmental and health hazards to people living in the area .
“Communities should learn to maintain a hygienic environment and healthy body by frowning at open defecation,” he said.
Geji said the council would enact a bye -law to check the menace of open defecation in gutters, drainages, running streams, bushes, fields and any available space around schools, worship centres, health facilities, business premises and private offices.
The bye-law will also make it mandatory for landlords, house-owners and owners of public and business premises to provide sanitary facilities within their domain.
“This is to enable the council achieve open defecation free status in Preparatory to UNICEF validation exercise slated for March this year,” he stressed.
The council boss commended UNICEF for its numerous support to Toro LGA, and appealed to the Fund to scale up its assistance to the council in view of increasing demand for basic social services.
According to Geji, the influx of a large number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) into the area had put some pressure on the council with respect to providing social services.
Earlier, Abdulsalam Abdullahi, UNICEF Spokesman, disclosed that 230 communities out of 1151 that have water, sanitation and hygiene committees (WASHCOM) would be visited during the validation exercise.
He said that TORO council would have attained open defecation free status when feces are not found in the open.
Abdullahi implored the council to expedite action in enacting the bye-law as this would also ensure that communities that had attained ODF status in Toro LGA do not revert to their old habit of open defecation in public space.
Also speaking, representative of the state Rural Water Supply Agency (RUWASA), Alhaji Adamu Sabo, revealed that UNICEF in partnership with RUWASA had constructed about 430 boreholes in Toro LGA.
He urged the council not to disappoint the state government, but strive to end open defecation (OD) in order to attract more UNICEF support.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that stakeholders present at the meeting included e traditional rulers, health and education personnel, representatives of UNICEF and RUWASA staff among others.(NAN).
-Feb, 13, 2021 @ 4;28pm
Tags: Toro LG in Bauchi to enact law against open defecation – Chairman
