Rose Ejembi, Makurdi
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said that the North Central region of Nigeria has the highest incidence of open defecation in the country with an average of 53.9% people still practising open defecation in the region.
UNICEF’s Water Sanitation and Hygiene (Wash) Manager, Enugu Field Office, Ms. Mamita Thakkar stated this on Thursday during a press conference organised as part of activities lined up to celebrate Ogbadibo Local Government area of Benue state for achieving open defecation free status.
Thakkar also stated that the Normative (NORM) data of 2018-2019 show that 50% of the population in Benue which is close to 2.9 million people still practice open defecation.
While noting that the above data was not an encouraging picture, Thakkar however commended Ogbadibo local government for changing the narrative by becoming the first local government to attain open defecation free feat in the state.
She added that 14 put of the 23 local government areas of the state are also working assiduously towards becoming open defecation free (ODF) and to achieve the 2023 target of a ODF state.
“In Nigeria and Benue in particular, UNICEF with the financial support of DFID has been consistently supporting the state government for the past several years to implement effective sanitation programmes.
” While we celebrate the success and achievements of Ogbadibo, we must not lose sight of the larger vision and outcomes for health, education, nutrition, gender equity which can be achieved through better sanitation.
“It is important to fast track efforts to to achieve the goals of ODF Benue by 2025. Strategies need to be developed for state wide ODF, investment plans need to be firmed up at the LGA level, budgets need to be released, political momentum needs to be further built and a new social norm towards ending open defecation needs to be established,” Thakkar stated.
Earlier in a remark, Commissioner of Water Resources, Engr. Dondo Ahire said people of Ogbadibo local government have put an end to open defecation through a collective behavioral change process even as he commended the collaborative efforts of UNICEF and DFID in ensuring the area achieved the feat.
“The people of Ogbadibo LGA are celebrating the feat of becoming Open Defecation Free (ODF) LGA. This achievement is worthy of note because it is the third in the state and the first amongst the 8 LGAs implementing the SHAWN programme in Benue State of Nigeria. It is also the 16th in the country to attain this status.
“The Sanitation Hygiene and Water in Nigeria (SHAWN) programme in Nigeria is a ground breaking spanning over 10 years and millions of dollars collaborative programme that is jointly funded by the state government and DFlD/UNlCEF that is transforming the health of over 3224 communities in Benue and state,” Ahire explained.