The Minister of State for Environment, Dr Iziaq Adekunle Salako, says about 23 percent of the country’s population, totalling 48 million Nigerians, still practise open defecation as the country nears the 2025 deadline to end open defecation.
Dr. Salako, who was speaking in Abuja during a joint public hearing organised by the House of Representatives joint committees on Environment, Water Resources, Ecological Fund, Works, Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, said the federal government needed to construct at least one million public toilets in public facilities across the country as part of efforts to meet the target.
He noted that so far, only 5,000 toilets had been provided by the Federal Government across the country, adding that 159 million Nigerians lacked hand washing facilities.
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The health minister added that in order to address the problem, the ministry had developed the National Environmental Sanitation Policy and its guidelines on sewage and excreta management.
He also added that the established sanitation desks in the 36 states’ ministries of environment and FCT to conduct routine sanitary inspections of premises, and to sensitise the public to dangers of open defecation and the importance of having access to toilets in residential and public places.
