The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal has reaffirmed the commitment of the Federal Government towards eradicating Open Defecation nationwide by 2030 inline with the United Nation Convention.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mahmud Adams Kambari who represented the Minister revealed this recently in Abuja during a Press Briefing to commemorate the 2025 World Toilet Day (WTD) with global theme: Sanitation in changing World, We’ll Always Need the Toilet.
Balarabe lamented that 4.2 billion people globally Iive without safe toilet while over 45 million Nigerians still practice open defecation, adding that only about 25 per cent of the population have access to safely managed sanitation facilities.
He noted that the 2025 WTD theme reflects the growing impacts of climate change, rapid urbanization and widening inequalities that weaken sanitation system.
The Minister called on Sub-Nationals to prioritises provision of toilet and effective management of waste to enhance environmental health as lack of toilet and poor management of waste contributes significantly to diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and intestinal worm infections, which continues to claim lives, especially among children below the age of five.
Mrs. Sushmita of the Centre for Science and Environmental India, pledged the support of their Centre to mitigate open defecation and environmental sustainability in Nigeria.
In her welcome address, the Director of Pollution Control & Environmental Health (PC/EH) Bahijjah Abubakar who represented the Permanent Secretary, believed that numerous people still lack access to safe toilets and millions continue to practice open defecation globally.
The Permanent Secretary stated that open defecation poses serious health and environmental risks, especially to women, children and other vulnerable groups, as poor sanitation fuels the spread of diarrhea, cholera and typhoid, which remain major causes of illness and death among children under five.
The Registrar of the Environmental and Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON), Dr. Yakubu Mohammed Baba, in his goodwill message called for an urgent need for inclusive action on sanitation as inadequate access to safe toilets remains a major challenge amid climate change, population growth, urbanization and social inequality.
Dr. Yakubu believed that toilets are not ordinary facilities; they are essential markers of public health, human dignity, and social progress.
Also, the Secretary General of the Nigerian Red Cross Society Dr. Abubakar Ahmed Kende, emphasised the constant necessity of sanitation as a human right despite global challenges and called for urgent action to protect and expand access to safety managed sanitation in a world which have been impacted by issues such as aging infrastructure, rising demand, climate change and growing inequality.
Dr. Kende reiterated that “We lived in a changing world marked with innovation, migration, economic changes and climate uncertainty. In fact, one thing remains constant, we would always need the toilet for convenient and dignity”.
Signed
Ibrahim Haruna
Director of Information and Public Relations
