World toilet day is commemorated 19th of November every year to raise awareness of billions of people living without access to safely managed sanitation. Statistics indicates that over 4 billion people in the world have no access to improved sanitation facilities with about 673 million still practicing open defecation. In Nigeria, about 47million Nigerians still practice open defecation, a situation that exposes many to high rate of diarrhoea, cholera, mortality, morbidity among other diseases. Earlier in her remarks, the Minister of state, ministry of environment, Sharon Ikeazor said the global event underscores the danger of open defecation and importance of owing and using safe toilet . The theme for this year’s world toilet day is ” Sustainable Sanitation And Climate Change”. At a news conference to highlight activities lined up to commemorate the day in Nigeria, the Minister of environment, Dr Mahmood Mohammad reiterated the Federal Government commitment to address sanitation challenges including open defecation. He said the gesture is inline with the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari’s to declare a state of emergency on water, sanitation and hygiene and as well as signing of executive order on open defecation free Nigeria by 2025.
