Cross River State government yesterday said that it had provided N700 million to ensure the state becomes the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) state in Nigeria.

Governor Ben Ayade stated this on Wednesday at the Executive Council Chamber, Government House, Calabar, when he received in audience a delegation of funding agencies led by Chief of UNICEF Field Office, Enugu, Dr. Ibrahim Khalil Conteh.

He stated that already, the state is a leading state in sub-Saharan Africa in the elimination of open defecation with five of its local councils having been declared Open Defecation Free by the United Nations (UN).