WTD: Ending Open Defecation, Possible, Achievable-Minister 

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Toilet Day (WTD), the Federal Government of Nigeria has charged citizens to work towards ending open defection in the country by the year 2025.
Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, gave the charge at the end of the World Toilet Day Summit with the theme ‘Sanitation Innovations For Economic Development’, in Abuja, at the weekend.
Adamu said with the response and political will from State and Local Governments,  there is hope for eradicating open defecation, insisting that open defecation was possible and achievable.
He said, “I expect the quantum leap that we have been looking for. Going forward, from all that has happened at the world toilet summit and world toilet day,  I hope that more states, communities, and local governments will embrace the campaign and end open defecation for people to appreciate the need to build toilets in their homes”.
Adamu, however, charged corporate organisations and civil societies to build toilet facilities for Nigeria to serve as ways to end open defecation .
He added that most of the States declared ODF have drastic reduction in cases of cholera, dysentery and other air and water borne diseases as people live healthy lives and spend less on treatment and drugs.
The Minister noted that the government was basically to provide the enabling environment to achieve ODF status, and tasked individuals and communities to secure and safeguard the health of their families  and people with befitting toilets.
Adamu insisted that Nigerians should embrace the challenge to make Nigerian Open Defecation Free, “ if India with 600 million people defecating openly could take that huge number out and today the entire country is open defecation free within fives, while Nigeria with about 46 million Nigerians defecating openly could also take this number off open defecation in a couple of years to come”.
On his part, the founder, World Toilet Organisation (WTO), Jack Sim, called on Nigerians, private investors and Government to place premium on the provision of toilet facilities and concentrate on it to make Nigeria an open defecation free country.

“As it is embarrassing not to have a cell phone and a toilet. Just like the cell phone, if you don’t have it is embarrassing you”, Sim added

Sim further assured that the World Toilet Organisation would support the efforts of having safe and decent toilets.

The summit ended with a lot of resolve to galvanize the sanitation economy of Nigeria to transform it into a big money spinning business and employment generation within a short time as investors indicated interest to take advantage of the untapped sanitation economy worth $26.1billion by 2030, as they said ‘shit business is a good business’.