The people of Queenstown Community Mr Kenneth Gbandimunity in Opobo/Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State say they have inaugurated a taskforce to check and arrest any member of the community involved in open defecation (OPF).
The chairman, Warisenapu Council of Queenstown, Warisenibo Loveday Uranta who disclosed this during a visit by the State Task Group on sanitation (STGS) to the community said that the taskforce was also being empowered to impose the sum of five thousand naira as fine on offenders.
Warisenibo Uranta aid the move was part of the commitment by the community to end the incidence of cholera and diarhoe in the community.
He said every household in the community is being encouraged to build Septic tank, stressing that the situation has made the community to be cleaner and safe from water-borne diseases.
“For three years now, you have been ringing alarm bell and a lot of sensitization has been going on that people should defecate in the open. Without awareness, the Chief Council has been sensitising the people to stop defecation in the open”, he said.
The opinion leader further said despite the challenges encountered in ensuring the implementation of the directive, the Chief’s Council and indeed the entire community are not resting on their oars in putting an end to open defecation in the community.
Earlier, the leader of the team Mrs Kingbara Anyalsu thanked the community for the feat, stressing it behoves on other communities in the state to learn from Queenstown by also setting up taskforces to check open defecation in their areas.
She however said that the community still has a lot of work to do to attain the status of being declared open defecation free (OPF).