By Bisola Adeyemo
No fewer than 61 out of the 774 Local Government Areas (LGA) in Nigeria are free from open defecation, the Federal government stated.
It also said an estimated 46 million out of 200 million citizens still find pleasure in open defecation, describing the trend as hazardous to their wellbeing.
Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, stated this on Wednesday in Ado Ekiti, during the flag-off of the National Youth Volunteer Programme for Hand Washing and Clean Nigeria Campaign, Punch news reports.
Adamu, represented by an official of the ministry, Mrs. Damilola Akomolafe, described the programme as one of the interventions of the Federal Government to halt the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on citizens.
He said: “This programme was launched two years ago and ought to have been replicated in all the 36 states of the federation but for the COVID-19 pandemic that brought about total lockdown of the country last year.
“The programme was conceived to mobilise the Nigerian population on the need to maintain proper hygiene for their safety because statistics revealed that an estimated population of about 46 million in Nigeria still practise open defecation.”
He added: “Let me also reveal that 61 local governments out of 774 in Nigeria have been certified Open Defecation Free, with Ifedayo in Osun State being the only one in the Southwest.”