Shina Ashade, Abeokuta
Ogun State Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASTAN) has concluded plans to lobby the state’s House of Assembly to create bye law to sanction people practicing open defecation in the state.
The agency equally said that it is collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources through the Clean Nigeria Secretariat to support Ikenne LGA to an open defecation status through a step down training for 30 people to have ripple effects on other councils
The Programme Manager, Mr Sola Ogunbo, while speaking in an exclusive interview, said that the law would enforce compliance among the citizens who are in the habit of defecating openly, to construct toilet facilities in their households.
Ogunbo, who said that the state government has taken the right step in pursuant of the federal government executive order 009, mandating the 36 states to drive all 774 local government areas to open defecation free status by 2025.
The manager said that if the Assembly enact the law the Local Government Chairmen including the Village Heads and Community Development Association(CDA) authority would take it as a responsibility to enforce compliance on people and sanction defaulters in the dastard acts
“If compliance is a bit low we might have to come up with bye law. We will lobby our House of Assembly to create a bye law both at local and the state level that will now pose sanctions on people who defecate openly.
“We will get to that level and that will also geared and speed up activities in that area. and if the assembly come up with bye law it is the local government chairmen that will implement the law”
Ogunbo noted that the 30 trained people in Ikenne LGA would go about the 250 communities under the council to educate and trigger the people to shun open defecation and ensure a date for their households to get toilet facilities.
“We have gone back to ikenne, we have conducted a step down training for about 30 people who will now move into communities to go into people living close to streams or rivers to teach them while they have to stop open defecation not only to do that but also to ask them for a date when they will do their toilets to achieve the agenda of one house one toilet” he said
