Groups lament open defecation in Ekiti

Civil Society Organisations in Ekiti State have called on Governor Ayodele Fayose to embark on massive construction of public toilets and make water available in public places to reduce open defecation. They also urged the state government to embark on
massive drilling of boreholes in communities and small towns to prevent outbreak of water and poor sanitation related diseases.

These are contained in a communique issued at the end of a two-day capacity building workshop for CSOs organised by the European Union Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Reform Programme in collaboration with Ekiti State Ministry of Public Utilities in Ilupeju Ekiti.

The call followed a recent report which revealed that Ekiti State had the highest rate of open defecation in the South West.

The Commissioner for Environment, Bisi Kolawole, recently said 220 persons had been jailed in the state for offences ranging from open defecation to dumping of refuse into drainages and canals, among others.

The CSOs stressed the need to strengthen existing laws or enact new ones which would make it a punishable offence in the state for any landlord to build a house without a toilet.

The law, they added, should also compel existing landlords to face similar punishment if toilets were not provided in existing houses within a given period.

The CSOs called for the rehabilitation of toilet facilities in public buildings and “for the government to urgently replace damaged and burst pipes to enhance adequate supply of safe water to the people.”

The communique added, “Also, non-functioning dams in the state and those functioning below their installed capacities should be urgently rehabilitated.

“There is urgent need to have a development plan for the Water and Sanitation Hygiene sectors. To this, a clear ideology should be put in place, including the granting of autonomy to the water corporation and Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency and putting in place regulatory bodies for the agencies.”



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