The Minister for Water Resources Sulieman Adamu, has urged Nigerians to take the issues of open defecation seriously as it concerns everyone.
Adamu made this call in Abuja while delivering a lecture on the theme: “Stopping open defecation’’ organised by the Faculty of Engineering, University of Abuja.
He said that in sub-Saharan Africa, Nigeria with the highest population has about 47 million people defecating in the open and ranks second in the world.
He said that tackling the problem of open defecation in Nigeria “is everyone’s business and not for the government alone.’’
According to him, 86 per cent of disease cases are attributed to poor environmental sanitation,’’ he said.
The Director-General, Infrastructure
Concession Regulatory Commission Chidi Izuwah called on the university
authority to include a programme in the institution for students to also be
enlightened on open defecation.
