Rotimi Ige and Ruth Olurounbi write on the poor sanitation situation
in many National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) camps which forces corps
members to defecate in the open.
DEFECATING in the open is the
way of life in some parts of the world, especially the developing ones.
In spite of the UNICEF's Country Representative and Chief Ambassador, Dr
Suomi Sakai's worry over the high rate of open defecation practice in
Nigeria, some people are not particularly bothered that about 1.7
million tonnes of faeces are being deposited into the environment
annually. The faeces, some people say, fertilise the soil on which they
grow their crops, while others blame their action on the inactions of
the federal government.
Currently, 2.5 billion people on earth
lack improved sanitation. A projection by the World Health Organisation
(WHO), however, assured of a slight decrease by 2015, leaving only 2.4
billion without improved sanitation. In the meantime, 1.1 billion people
around the world practice open defecation, just as they go without
access to sanitary toilet and sewage facilities. Of the 2.6 billion
people still without toilets, an estimated 980 million are children,
according to the United Nations. In India, 626 million people practice
open defecation, while 692 million people in South Asia defecate openly.
Indonesia has a total of 63 million who practise open defecation.
Pakistan comes close second with 40 million, while Ethiopia has 38
million people who live without toilets.
Read on: www.tribune.com.ng
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