By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Minister of Environment, Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar, has given major reasons for increased cases of Cholera outbreak in Nigeria.
He said that poor environmental sanitation and hygiene practices in the country are causes of the outbreak.
He made this known on Monday, in Abuja.
The Minister noted that his ministry, over the years, has collaborated with organized private sector, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), Community Based Organisations (CBO’s), academia, development partners, among others to deliver adequate sanitation and hygiene services to the citizenry.
He said as quoted by Vanguard, “This is largely due to our collective behaviours and attitude towards environmental sanitation and hygiene practices which are very poor.”
The measures activated by the government so far to tackle the disease, he said, “include development of policies, regulatory and legislative frame work, implementation of relevant programmes and projects, establishment of relevant regulatory and enforcement agencies.
“This year’s outbreak is very serious and has continued to ravage many states with more fatalities being reported on a daily basis.
”The Federal Ministry of Environment, has activated the Sanitation Desks in the 36 state ministries of environment and FCT, urging them to carry out environmental sanitation activities in their various states aimed at containing the outbreak.”
According to him, “The Ministry has also requested the environmental health officers in the states and local governments across the country to intensity their efforts in carrying out sanitary inspection of premises and abatement of nuisances that could result to diseases outbreak such as cholera, Lassa fever” among others.
He informed that “in days to come, the Federal Ministry of Environment will be flagging off National Environmental Sanitation Response Intervention to Cholera Outbreak in Kubwa, Abuja which is currently the epi-centre in the FCT.”