March 27, (THEWILL) – The Ogun State Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASTAN) has said it will lobby the State House of Assembly to create a bye-law that will punish citizens who have formed the habit of defecating in the open in the state.
RUSTAWAN’S Programme Manager, Mr Sola Ogunbo, in an exclusive interview With THEWILL, said the law would enforce compliance among the citizens to construct toilet facilities in their households.
Ogunbo, who said that the state government has taken the right step in pursuit of the Federal Government’s executive order 009 mandating the 36 states to drive all the 774 local government areas to an open defecation-free status by 2025.
The manager said that if the Ogun Assembly enacted the law, local government chairmen, village heads and community development association (CDA) authorities would take it as a responsibility to enforce compliance and sanction defaulters.
“If compliance is a bit low, we might have to come up with a bye-law. We will lobby the House of Assembly to create a bye-law at local and state levels that will impose sanctions on people who defecate in the open.
“We will get to that level and that will also gear and speed up activities in that area. If the assembly comes up with a bye-law, the local government chairmen will implement the law.”
He noted that 30 trained people in Ikenne Local Government Area would go about the 250 communities under the council to educate and trigger the people to shun open defecation and ensure a date for their households to get toilet facilities.
“We have gone back to ikenne, we have conducted a step down training for about 30 people who will now move into communities to go into people living close to streams or rivers to teach them why they have to stop open defecation,” he said.
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