New Telegraph

‘Nigeria loses $3bn to poor sanitation annually’

The Senate, yesterday, disclosed that Nigeria was losing a whooping sum of three billion dollars annually due to poor sanitation emanating from open defecation. Senator Clifford Ordia (PDP-Edo Central), made the disclosure at plenary while leading the debate on the general principles of a bill seeking to prohibit open urination/open defecation in the country.

The bill is titled: ‘A Bill for an Act to establish the Clean Nigeria Agency for the purpose, among others to prohibit open urination/ open defecation in order to keep Nigeria clean and diseases free’. Ordia said open defecation was not only a social stigma but also a factor contributing to violence against young girls and young married women.

He added: “Nigeria with a population of over 200 million people is the largest market in the continent, its population is about twice the size of Ethiopia (110 million) and Egypt (102 million). “In spite of this ‘giant posture’ economic outlook of the country, Nigeria wears a shameful cloak of being the leading nation in the world with the highest number of people practicing open urination and defecation estimated at over 46 million people.”

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