UNICEF laments half Oyo residents engage in open defecation

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), yesterday, lamented that half of the residents of Oyo State engaged in open defecation.

This also came as the state government vowed to eliminate open defecation outright across all the 33 local councils of the state.

Chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) of UNICEF, Jane Bevan, stated this during a one-day media dialogue on the launch of open defecation-free roadmap in Oyo State, which took place at Kakanfo Inn, Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

Bevan, who stated that open defecation is detrimental to healthy living and could result in outbreak of diseases, said sanitation and hygiene are the best preventive measures.

The UNICEF WASH Chief, therefore, solicited the support of the media in the campaign to end the practice.

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Chairman of Rural Water Supply and Sanitisation Agency (RUWASA), Omirinde Najeem, said the people needed to know the danger involved in open defecation. He thanked the UNICEF for supporting the state.

Also, the state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Wasiu Olatubosun, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, said defaulters of open defecation would be prosecuted when the law is passed.