Wary of the rapid spread of Cholera across the country, causing high morbidity and mortality, the federal government has commenced measures to combat the epidemic by tackling the root causes, including open defecation.

Accordingly, Vice President Kashim Shettima has stated the commitment of the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to end open defecation by 2025.

The Vice President spoke on Tuesday when he inaugurated the Steering Committee for the “Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet” Campaign, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

He said that ending open defecation can be achieved by mobilising strategic stakeholders and leveraging technology as well as deploying innovative and sustainable solutions to boost the nation’s sanitation landscape.

Senator Shettima, who underscored the significance of hygiene, health, and its impact on development and wealth, urged the committee to “align with broader government priorities and interventions in areas such as poverty reduction, education, and economic growth.”

The VP said the recently reported cases of cholera in the country should serve as sufficient motivation for the committee to work harder, just as he directed members of the committee to “craft solutions to handle wastewater management, contaminated water sources, and open defecation” across the country.

VP Shettima also expressed confidence that members of the team “will commit to research-driven approaches in our bids to deliver on our promise to make the nation clean.

“We are well aware that achieving this objective begins with our collective resolve to embrace behavioral change and cultivate a lifestyle that prioritizes proper sanitation practices, hygiene education, and community engagement,” he added.

He stressed that the goals and aspirations of the country could be best achieved by harnessing the resources available in the public and private sectors, especially by carrying out innovative research.

“The public sector cannot succeed in this campaign unless we engage and encourage private sector participation and invite innovative and sustainable solutions.

“We must partner by utilizing technology for real-time monitoring, data collection, and impact assessment while recognizing the role of youth and women in driving change,” the VP emphasised.

Aside from its core mandate, the Vice President tasked the committee to be vigilant in its assignment, especially “as we develop solutions to the devastations of climate change, urbanization, and population growth”, noting that “we have become ambassadors of a cause that seeks to restore the health and dignity of our people”.

Earlier, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, recalled that in the bid to tackle the Cholera epidemic, which he said is ravaging the country in 33 states, with 2,000 cases and 33 deaths, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), at its last meeting, also commissioned a cabinet committee to deal with the issue.  

He said, “That cabinet committee comprises Water, Education, Environment, Aviation, and almost all the relevant ministries. Open defecation is part of the drivers of this Cholera outbreak that we are seeing. But we also have a good example of a sub-national unit doing very well in Jigawa State, which has been declared open defecation-free.

“That is a good example showing that sub-national units can help us address this issue. So, we really appreciate your leadership and commit ourselves to supporting this effort so that we can end open defecation in Nigeria.”

Presenting the report on ‘Clean Nigeria: Use the Toilet Campaign’, the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Terlumun Utsev,  said the report covers both challenges and successes since its establishment in 2016 and was inaugurated and signed into law in 2019.

According to him, the campaign is a transformative initiative to eradicate open defecation in Nigeria in the year 2025, noting that the campaign was aimed at getting all stakeholders to join and tackle open defecation which currently ranked Nigeria as the second (2) largest country that practices open defecation in the world, next to India.

He said the 2018 Water and Sanitation Hygiene national outcome revealed that approximately 47 million Nigerians, constituting 23% of the population, engaged in open defecation.

The Minister highlighted the objectives of the campaign to include a nationwide campaign, mobilizing support and resources at both the national and sub-national levels to fight the menace and creating a pool of resource persons and spoke actors in mobilizing the people in all strata of the society to imbibe in the culture and self-sanitation, as well as setting the mechanism for tracking progress, sharing knowledge and lessons.

In the report, the Minister warned that open defecation has its own economic, social, and health impact on the national outlook of the country, noting that in 2016 a road map was made by the previous administration and an investment of about N959 billion would be required.

“The idea was that money would be used in the construction of toilets in both the households and national levels. 25,000 toilets would be constructed at the rural level and 50,000 toilets would be constructed at the urban level, but as of today things have changed and a review was needed.

“With that, there was an approval of N10.4billion to be given annually for the implementation of the exercise and we, 48 million people, have changed their behavior and 9.4 million toilets were to be built across the 33 states and the FCT with this estimation,” the Minister explained.

The Minister solicited the support of the Ministries of Finance and Justice for the success of the campaign.