By Bisola Adeyemo
Kabusa residents have called on the government to improve the community sanitation system by establishing environmental measures to mitigate the habit of open defecation in the community.
Kabusa is a well-populated neighborhood in Abuja, Nigeria, sits in the southern part of the city with most of the community still developing with informal settlements scattered around the district.
In a interview with NatureNews on Saturday, Mr Diko Akuko bakachin kabusa ( the chief of kabusa) stated that ability to eradicate open defecation in kabusa required support from the government.
“The habit of defecating openly is everywhere in the community but we have no power to sanction anybody except government gives us support and order. That is why we need environmental officials to be supported by the government to halt the habit of defecating openly.
“Nothing we can do at community level that will curtail this habit except we are embarked by the law from the government.”
Diko further stated that Kabusa residents need to be enlightened through sensitization, on a health awareness sustainable programs on the consequence of open defecation and other things it entails.
“Another thing is that many people in this community do not have shelter they sleep outside anywhere they see. these are set of people littering the village with their stool Someone who doesn’t have a house cannot have a toilet.
“In the case of small children, when environmental people set in, parents will caution their children.” he added.
Another resident who anonymously spoke with NatureNews stated that many houses are built without toilet. Most house owners doesn’t pay more attention to toilets.
“In the case of some houses where the toilets are available, but people still end up preferring open defecation, the reasons can extend to population issues where tenants share one toilet. Such toilet can lack proper maintenance. For instance, a compound with like eight tenants with one toilet tell me why such people will not look for an alternative to pass their stool.”
