Delta Environment Commissioner, Onogba Advocates Against Open Defecation

By Anita Chukwuma

Delta State Commissioner for Environment, Mr Christian Onogba, has called on Deltans and residents to stop open defecation to forestall environmental degradation in the state.

Onogba stated this while inspecting an illegal dumpsite in Asaba, the state capital.

He frowned at the act of open defecation by some individuals, saying that such unwholesome environmental degradation would no longer be tolerated by the state government as every necessary legal actions would be taken against defaulters in the state.

He said that so many outbreaks of epidemic was as a result of the poor hygienic habit of open defecation adding that
“Nigeria is almost becoming the height of open defecation which is not in the interest of Deltans or of Nigerians.”

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“We should not see every space as a place to defecate; whereby, when it rains, the faeces are washed into the rivers and streams which are sources of drinking water for the communities around the area,” he added.

“If we continue to practice open defecation, we will be endangering the lives of people. We must stop open defecation. Government frowns at the poor attitude we have towards the environment,” he stressed.

The commissioner revealed that the state government would soon set up a committee to go round communities that would not care about open defecation and ensure that every house and business premises had a toilet facilities and those without it would be made to provide such.

He further stated that the state government had committed huge resources into making the environment clean with little or nothing to show for it.

“If people take ownership of their environment, it makes it better. We can make the environment clean, if all stakeholders would work together,” he opined.