By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Federal Government has listed Kwara and Plateau as the states with the highest population in open defecation.
The Director, Water Quality Control and Sanitation, Ministry of Water Resources, Mr Emmanuel Awe, revealed this at the 2021 First Quarter Lunch Time Seminar for Media Executives in Abuja.
He said that the data was gotten from the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene National Outcome Routine Mapping Survey (WASH-NORM), launched in 2018 to fill the chronic gaps in monitoring and routine assessment of the status of the WASH services in Nigeria.
According to him, Nigeria still ranks the highest country with the highest number of persons defecating openly, saying no fewer than N455 billion was lost annually to poor sanitation.
Awe said that if the country could invest more in sanitation infrastructure, there would be sustainable ways of safe disposal of wastes, business opportunities and improved productivity for all.
He said that the impact of poor sanitation was seen in underdevelopment of children, loss of manpower, low socioeconomic development, among others.
The director identified open defecation as a major contributor to rising cases of kidnapping and sexual violence, noting that this could occur as a result of searching for convenient places to answer the call of nature, the News Agency reports.