Open defecation will end by 2019, says minister

Amina Mohammed, minister of environment, disclosed this in an interview with NAN in Abuja.

“We’ve decided to embark on a couple of campaigns and apart from the sanitation day, we are setting ourselves targets – two targets specifically,” she said.

“One will be about ending open defecation in public places by 2019 because I think it is important to know that we don’t have a country that everyone has toilet facilities in their homes talk less of in public places.

“But if we can stop this in public places, we can begin to really deal with the problem.

“And that means providing public toilets; it means a partnership with the private sector; it means a lot of learning and knowledge for sanitation.”

Mohammed said there will be a partnership with the minister of water resources and UNICEF.

“That target we set for open defecation we will work hand in hand with states governments and local governments and making sure that the private sector comes in to build these toilets for us and even create jobs,” she said.

“Jobs with dignity and so, therefore, we have to find ways of doing that in making sure that this is sustainable.

“Government cannot do this by itself and so therefore partnership will be important.”

The minister said the Nigerian government has set a target to end the incessant dumping of plastic products on streets and involve the private sector for collection and recycling.

“We will create jobs and we think that this will work by 2019; so this is something that we would like to do outside of the waste,” she said

“There is correlation between the two I have to tell you that for us when we put this campaign out, one of the things that we found is that no one size fits all.

“Open defecation in some states in the north is the different issue in the south or in the south-east.”