Open defecation: Bauchi Emir leads campaign, seeks returns of sanitary inspectors to end practice

AS a means to ending open defecation and ensuring sanitation for all the people who do not have toilets in their homes, Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, has declared his readiness to lead the campaign against open defecation in the state just as he called on the state government to as a matter of necessity and urgency legislate the return of Environmental Sanitary Inspectors.

Rilwanu Adamu made a call on Tuesday during the World Toilet Day Celebration held at his palace in Bauchi, saying that the environmental sanitary inspectors will restore the culture of sanitation and hygiene practices to the people, adding that their presence will instil discipline personal and environmental clearness.

The Emir who was represented by the Galadiman Bauchi, Surveyor Ibrahim Saidu Jahun, also directed all the District heads and village heads within the Emirates to observed the ban on open defecations in their respective domains and give maximum cooperation to relevant stakeholders in the campaign for the construction of toilets in all households.

He also pledged to lead a vigorous campaign against open defecations and construction toilets in each household beginning from the emirate council and the rest of Bauchi metropolis and its environs.

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Earlier in his remarks, Coordinator of WASH in Bauchi LGA Unit, Yunusa Yau, said that only 135 communities out of 1618 communities are certified of open defecation free in the Bauchi LGA.

He said that “We have 1618 communities and the WASH Unit is able to visit and trigger 670 communities from the inception of the UNICEF SHAWN project in 2017 to date. Out of that 135 communities have been certified open defecation free, even though it is a recorded success we still have a long way to in ensuring all the 1618 communities of Bauchi have become ODF.”

He also decried the challenges in carrying out activities of WASH including lack of cooperation and commitment of some community members in sanitation and hygiene practices and construction of toilets in their households as well as lack of operational funds to support the activities of the WASH unit.

Yunusa Yau then appealed for the support of the traditional institutions especially Emir of Bauchi, the four district heads and all traditional leaders to join hands together in ensuring that all community members and every household has a toilet use to stop the practices of open defecation in “our communities so that every community in Bauchi LGA will become open defecations free.”