Sanitarian call for public, private partnership in curbing open defecation

By Fatima Saka
The Registrar of Environmental Health Council of Nigeria, Sanitarian Dr. Yakubu Mohammed Baba, has urged the federal government to involve private sectors in curbing and ending open defecation by 2025 in Nigeria, and needs to partner with private sectors in providing toilets in strategic places across the country.
The Sanitarian disclosed this to the Newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja as the Federal Ministry of Environment in who is the collaboration with the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON)
organised three-days forum for stakeholders in the sector.
The EHCON further unveiled the official Gazette of the publication of registered membership of Environmental Health Practitioners in Nigeria.
Baba reiterated that public, private partnership is one segment of the environmental sector which has been recommended in engagement preparedness towards participation in addressing the environmental challenges. Adding that the forum will address issues in the areas of financing, technology transfer and membership.
” The government alone cannot deliver environmental health so, we need to also create the enabling environment for the private sector to part.
“And we believe there are a lot of opportunities in the environment. For instance, it is the expectation of the council that after the successful deliberation of a three days forum, this will create at least 10,000 jobs within the sphere of environmental health.
“Also, we are also looking at the possibility of declaring the rules and regulations guiding the practice of the environmental workshops and as I had mentioned, the objective is to create the enabling environment for the private sector to come and participate and invest in environmental health because we know environmental health is important.
“The gazetted copy of the membership which is issued by the Minister today. This is also a line with what is enshrined in because the Act also in the enabling section mentioned that the council shall publish the list of the members of the probation.
“And I think the best way for the council to published the list is to get the membership and this is also to give the public the opportunity to know who is really a practitioner in Nigeria who is not really a practitioner in Nigeria because if your name is not on that list, it means you are not environmental health practitioner in Nigeria.
“The second document issued by the Minister is deceased. The environmental health Officers is using the public health law as our legislation and we have a lot of documents that we assign to the legal validity of those documents to make them highly legal for individuals to add their signature,” he said.