The Ondo State government has sought for the support of all and sundry to achieve an Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in the state.
The General Manager, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASSA), Engr. Rotimi Oladimeji said this during a sensitization meeting with stakeholders in Ifedore Local Government Area of the State.
According to him, the sensitization meeting became imperative to intimate the gathering on ways to create an ODF status for the state, using the council area as a starting point.
He informed that in 2019, Nigeria became the number one in National open defecation globally, overtaking India,as it was estimated that 50 million Nigerians (10 million households) defecate in the open.
He noted that inspite all efforts in the past, only 14 of 774 local governments in the country are free of open defecation.
To this end,he said Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari signed an executive order to tackle open defecation ,while in the same year,the programme tagged “Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025 “was launched.
The GM added that apart from bringing a negative social stigma to Nigeria, open defecation also poses obvious environmental, health and economic hazards.
To achieve an ODF free status by 2025, Oladimeji said the state and the Federal governments in collaboration with UNICEF have trained some environmental health officers on community-led total sanitation, hence the need for all hands to be on deck to have a robust achievement.
The Chairman of the local government, Engr.Alex Oladimeji appreciated RUWASSA for the rehabilitated boreholes in the council area and charged the agency to spread the rehabilitation to other wards.
He said that ODF is a collective exercise that should be worked on by all and sundry, promising to give his people orientation on the benefits of having a toilet.
Monarchs who spoke during the meeting appreciated the Agency for piloting the programme in their domain, pledging total support to achieve the set goal.
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