By Hajara Umar
The Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Environment and the Chief Executive Officer of the Ogun State Waste Management Authority (OGWAMA), Mr. Ola Oresanya, disclosed to journalists in Abeokuta on Thursday that;
“At least 124 individuals in Ogun state have been arrested and sentenced to community service for being caught openly defecating in public”.
According to him, the offenders were arrested in various parts of the state. Eighty-two of them were arrested in the Mowe-Ibafo axis in the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of the state.
Oresanya warned drivers of articulated vehicles and their cohorts to stop defecating on medians and roadsides while on stopovers.
He urged them to visit public toilets provided by the state government for their convenience instead of engaging in such unwholesome practices.
The National Association of Community Health Practitioners in Nigeria (NACHPN) have warned the Ogun state government over the years about the alarming number of people participating in open defecation. Studies revealed that about 28.8 percent of the total population of Ogun state, which amounts to 3,751,140 individuals with the number growing everyday practice such act.
Mr. Afuape, a field officer and a member of the State Onchocerciasis control team in the Ministry Of Health noted that open defecation promotes the spread of the Hepatitis disease, and it accounts for the highest number of deaths in children under the age of five.
Oresanya, disclosed the state had mandated all petrol stations and eateries in the state to make their conveniences available for public use as part of their corporate social responsibility.