By Simon Ujah, Kaduna
An NGO, “Aid Foundation” has initiated a public-private partnership (PPP) that will coordinate the implementation of commitments towards achieving an Open-Defecation-Free status across 23 Local Government Areas in Kaduna State, as part of activities to commemorate 2020 World Toilet day.
A statement issued in kaduna on Tuesday by the foundation stated that the implementation exercise is starting with Kaduna Metropolis in Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Chikun and Igabi Local Government Areas. Signed by Executive Director, Emmanuel Bonet, the Aid Foundation stressed that a planning meeting held on 19th November 2020, at the Kaduna State Facilities Management Agency Office, to commemorate the day, affirmed the commitments for the one-year partnership.
According to the release, the objectives of the partnership include construction of public toilets at strategic points and public spaces like Motor Parks, Markets, among others, in Kaduna metropolis, and to create massive awareness on the dangers of open defecation and Kaduna State’s plan to achieve Open-Defecation-Free status by 2025; “As part of activities for this year 2020, Aid Foundation, a non-governmental organization has initiated a public-private partnership that will coordinate the implementation of commitments towards achieving an Open-Defecation-Free status across 23 Local Government Areas in Kaduna State starting with Kaduna Metropolis in Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Chikun and Igabi LGAs.”At a planning meeting which held today, 19th November 2020, at the Kaduna State Facilities Management Agency Office to commemorate the day, representatives from various Government Agencies, the private sector and the media, made firm commitments to this one-year partnership, whose objectives include construction of public toilets at strategic points and public spaces like Motor Parks, Markets, etc. in Kaduna metropolis. “Create massive awareness on the dangers of open defecation and Kaduna State’s plan to achieve Open-Defecation-Free status by 2025”, it stated.
The statement further noted that “The World Toilet Day, is commemorated every 19th November, as a date set aside by the United Nations to raise awareness of the 4.2 billion people living without access to safely managed sanitation.
“It is about acting to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6, which is – water and sanitation for all by 2030.”This year the World Toilet Day 2020 focuses on sustainable sanitation and climate change. Nigeria is suffering from a defecation problem. “Defecating in the open is one of the leading devastating menaces to public health in Nigeria.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that about 122,000 Nigerians, including 87,000 children under the age of five die every year from diarrhoea, intestinal worm infections, cholera, hepatitis, typhoid and other preventable sanitation-related illnesses”, it added..
