*87% of LGAs left uncertified
*Target date remains shaky
*FG expands sanitation drive nationwide
To ensure sanitation and hygiene across the country, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry Of Water Resources, has declared two additional Local Government Areas in Kaduna State, Soba, and Kauru, as certified and declared Open Defecation Free (ODF).
This was revealed in a press release on Saturday signed by Mrs. Funmi Imuetinyan, Head of the Press and Public Relations Unit at FMWR in Abuja.
The Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack, of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, announced the emergence of the new achievers at the 26th July monthly meeting of the National Task Group on Sanitation (NTGS), a multi-sectoral platform involving Line Ministries, Agencies, NGO Network, and the Media.
Speaking further, she revealed that the certification and declaration of these two new LGAs bring the total number of Open Defecation Free Local Government Areas in Nigeria to 104.
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Mrs. Walson-Jack highlighted that Nigeria has made substantial progress since 2017 when only one Local Government Area, Obaniluku LGA in Cross River State, was Open Defecation Free.
She further informed that 27 LGAs in Jigawa State have achieved ODF status, making Jigawa State the first Open Defecation Free State in Nigeria.
Additionally, she listed other states and the number of their ODF LGAs as follows: Anambra (3); Akwa Ibom (1); Bauchi (7); Benue (9); Borno (2); Cross River (6); Kano (11); Kaduna (7); Katsina (25); Osun (1); Yobe (1); Zamfara (3); and Imo (1) LGAs respectively.
The Permanent Secretary stated that the Ministry, through the Clean Nigeria Campaign, is working assiduously to improve the number of ODF LGAs in the country.
She urged the State and Local Governments to give priority to the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign to ensure that Nigeria meets the target of becoming an Open Defecation Free nation by the year 2025.
It is worth recalling that following the declaration of a State of Emergency in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Sector by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018, Nigeria flagged-off the Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign in November 2019.
The Campaign was backed by Executive Order 9, towards making Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025.
