Environment
Toilet Use Reduces Faecal-Oral Diseases – Expert
The Water Sanitation and
Hygiene (WASH) Coordinator, Mrs Sarah Ode, in Cross River, has urged Nigerians to build and make use of their toilets to reduce the spread of faecal-oral diseases.
Ode, who made this call in an interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said sanitation is wealth and that was what differentiated man from animals.
She explained that ‘Faecal-oral transmission’ means spread of virus, bacteria or parasites from the human or animal stool to your mouth.
According to her, such diseases like; cholera, typhoid and diarrhea occur when contaminated faeces from an infected person were somehow ingested by another person.
She said it was also important for Nigerians to cultivate the habit of washing their hands regularly to break the cycle of transmission of disease into the body.
“What usually happens is that infected people might forget to properly wash their hands after using the toilet; another example involves people infected with faecal-oral disease who prepare food.
“It is very important for food handlers to have good hand washing culture because they can easily spread a faecal-oral disease through their prepared food to anyone who eats it,” she said.
Ode urged Nigerians to ensure that what they eat was not contaminated; adding that drinking water from lakes and swimming pools should be discouraged by all.
She said the importance of toilets cannot be over emphasised, as it creates avenue for promotion of human health and cleanliness.
Ode said not having a toilet dehumanises man, thereby creating room for open defecation to thrive.
“When you have markets, bus terminals, schools and you find out that a lot of people converge in these areas, when these facilities are not provided and nature calls, they defecate indiscriminately.
“But when these facilities are put in place, our public places will be in order, because whoever is pressed at those point in time, there is a place for him to go and defecate.
“By so doing, we are promoting human health, cleanliness, and beautification, also, you don’t have odour,” she said.
According to estimates from UNICEF and WHO published in 2013, a staggering 768 million people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.
This, they say, cause illnesses and preventable deaths in hundreds of thousands of children each year while most of the people without access are poor and live in rural areas or urban slums.
President, Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Mrs Margaret Oguntala, has inaugurated the construction of 18 units residential terrace in highbrow Alausa area of Lagos toward bridging the nation’s shelter gap.
Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation has launched the 1GOV Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) to enhance digital governance and improve service delivery.
The launch, held on Thursday in Abuja, marks the ministry’s transition from paper-based operations to a smart, integrated and technology-driven work environment.
The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev, said the deployment aligns with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.
Utsev said the system would improve data management, streamline workflows and strengthen transparency and accountability across the ministry.
According to him, the ECMS will enhance productivity, preserve institutional memory and reduce operational costs in the ministry.
Launching the platform, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, said the initiative is a major step in public sector reform.
She said the ministry’s mandate affects Nigerians through water supply, sanitation, irrigation, river basin development and climate resilience programmes.
Walson-Jack said the 1GOV ECMS enables secure digital records management, automated workflows, electronic approvals and real-time collaboration across MDAs.
She added that the deployment aligns with the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021–2025 and the directive for full digitalisation by December 2025.
“Effective governance cannot afford delays caused by manual bottlenecks or avoidable inefficiencies,” she said.
She directed that all official correspondence in the ministry must henceforth be processed through approved digital registry channels.
In her remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr Emanso Umobong, said the system would eliminate workflow inefficiencies and improve service delivery.
She urged staff to fully adopt the platform and engage in continuous capacity building.
Research shows that local communities and citizens living at the grassroots, particularly women, are directly impacted by the environmental degradation, flooding and others that result from these manifestations.
In the light of this, non-governmental organisation, Ese Usamali Foundation For Rural Development (EUFORDe), has held a forum for women and other members of oil impacted communities, tagged: ‘Voices from the Grassroots,’ and aimed at building their resilience and mitigation efforts against climate change and environmental degradation
The forum, with the theme: ‘Building Resilience for Oil Spill Impacted Ahoada Communities,’ organised with support from Global Green Grants, was held in Ahoada Community, Ahoada East Local Government Area of Rivers State, on December 5, 2025.
Executive Director of Ese Usamali Foundation For Rural Development, Mercy Elemchukwu-James, said women are at the forefront of efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.
The event, therefore, was “designed for community women impacted by oil spills, flooding and other environmental degradation,” she said.
Community women were enlightened by resource persons on new opportunities for sustainable agricultural practices and water management techniques that cushion the impact of oil spills.
Lectures were also delivered on Self-care and Trauma-care, with focus on physical and mental health of the population, and increasing access to health-related resources and services; as well as on Food security and women’s critical role in decision making in oil spill and flood situations in communities
Elemchukwu-James pointed out that the event created a forum for stakeholders, civil society actors and others to dialogue on measures at advancing inclusive and sustainable livelihoods of community women.
She stressed the need for collaborative efforts towards achieving mitigation efforts, while underscoring EUFORDe’s commitment to “fostering partnerships as a critical driver for achieving a healthy community and sustainable development.”
Elemchukwu-James described participants’ design of ‘Community Resilience Plan,’ to manage and combat environmental degradation and crises, as part of achievements recorded at the event.
The forum also witnessed the launching of EUFORDs’ Center For Resilience and Rights.
“This center is established to build resilience as Trauma-Care for victims of environmental degradation, support for survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and a platform where victims of environmental injustice and other GBV cases can seek redress,” Elemchukwu-James said.
Participants celebrated the milestones achieved and charted a path toward greater impact in the coming years. They also described the event as “an inspiring and transformative experience.”
Elemchukwu-James said the awareness creation workshop “reaffirms EUFORDe’s mission to create an equitable society in which the rights and capacities of women, youth, children and underprivileged are integrated in the socio-economic planning and development of communities, for the attainment of equity and peace.