A law to end open defecation is on the way, Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, has said.
He said that there is going to be an Executive Order signed by President Muhammadu Buhari to back the law.
Adamu explained that the law would not coarse Nigerians but promote behavioural change in hygiene promotion aimed at curbing the menace of open defecation.
The minister said that the menace currently dents the image of the country before the international community.
Adamu, during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja, said that Nigeria presently ranked number one on countries practicing open defecation, as over 47 million citizens indulge in the practice.
The minister, while unveiling the ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the toilet campaign’, at the headquarters of the ministry, noted that government would do everything to ensure that Nigerians desist from the unwholesome practice.
He said: “In the wash action plan that we are promoting which the states are adopting, there is a provision for some legislation to be made against open defecation, and there is going to be an executive order signed by President Buhari to that effect, where there is going to be a law against open defecation, the law enforcement agencies will do their bit.
“We are not trying to coarse people but open defecation is a bad practice and should be stopped.”
According to Adamu, the campaign will showcase the negativity of indiscriminate defecation, and disabuse the minds of people indulging in the insidious act.
“We are hoping that once the campaign gets into the minds of people, our job is done. So when the communities begin to see that this is not right , their behaviour will change. And at the end of the day, what is left for us is monitoring the process and if the communities are not doing it we will apply some tested methods to go and trigger them and find a way to mobilise them and do more advocacy for them,” he added.
He appealed to government at all levels to provide basic facilities, “because if there is no alternative, the call of nature can meet anyone anywhere. If we all unite in this we will get there by 2025.”
TheNation
