Following the death of over 300 Kano residents within the last six months as a result of cholera outbreak, the Kano state government has pledged to take more stringent measures to check the indiscriminate open defecation, especially in rural areas of the state.
Recall that Kano State had within the last six months recorded a total of 11,475 suspected cholera cases with no fewer than 329 deaths.
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Alhaji Jafaru Gwarzo, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Gov. Abdullahi Ganduje on Sanitation, made the promise in an interview with Daily Telescope in Kano on Thursday.
“In continuation of what we have been doing on promoting sanitation and improving the physical environment. We are taking additional steps to check open defecation in rural areas,” he said.
Gwarzo, who is popularly known as ‘Sarkin Tsaftar Kano’ said the measure was necessary to ensure strict adherence to environmental sanitation laws across the 44 local government areas of the state.
“It has become a common thing in our society to release or discharge wastewater any how.This common attitude of unhygienic practices is threat to lives and poses serious outbreak of endemic cases of malaria and reservoir of so many infections.
He said as part of renewed effort to check the indiscriminate open defecation, the state government had directed private developers to build public conveniences in all the 44 local government areas so that they could charge stipend before being used.
“The government had in the past constructed a number of such public toilets as part of measures to tackle the menace of open defecation in markets and motor parks where it is very rampant”, Gwarzo said.
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He said in addition, the state government had provided mobile toilets in areas where there is concentration of people but there are no Public conveniences.
He said the cholera which resulted in the death of over 300 persons in the State was worrisome hence the decision of the government to take stringent measures that would check the indiscriminate open defecation adding that Malaria and diarrhoea diseases are connected to society’s bad habits of hygiene.
He expressed readiness to collaborate with all the relevant MDAs and other stakeholders in sanitation particularly, the State Refuse Management Agency, Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency and Kano Urban Property Development Agency, among others.
“ We are going to seriously enhance proper ways of eradicating such nuisance behaviours with the support and cooperation of all the stakeholders, “ he said.
He said the United Nations Children’s Fund has been supporting the government to ensure that some areas of the state become open defecation free (ODF).
Recall that UNICEF) had about two years ago supported 10 local government areas of Kano state to attain the status of open defecation free (ODF).
The local government areas are, Madobi, Takai, Gaya, Kabo, Dawakin Tofa, Danbatta, Wudil, Sumaila, Garko and Doguwa.
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The level of open defecation in the state should be a serious concern to the government as well as other key stakeholders to check outbreak of diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera among other killer diseases.
India used to be number one in open defecation but if the government of India was able to take the country out of that position, I see no reason why Nigeria should not do the same.
