Kenny Folarin, Abuja
The Minister for Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu has said that Youth plays important role in curbing open defecation in the country.
Adamu while speaking in Abuja on Thursday at a National Youth and Stakeholders Dialogue on Clean Nigeria Campaign noted that open defecation pollutes the environment even as it poses a great risk to the entire population and to the dignity of the human person and as such, youth being an agent of social change are key resource not only in Clean Nigeria Campaign Initiative but also in the critical aspect of our engagement.
According to Adamu, the need for the adoption of good sanitation and hygiene is important so as to maximize the benefits of having access to safe water facilities.
Speaking on the theme: The Role of Young People in making Nigeria Open Defecation Free by 2025, Adamu said it represent a call to action by stakeholders in harnessing the young people towards achieving Nigeria’s targets of ending open defecation by 2025.
He thereby charged the Youth to lend their weight to support the initiative such that their positive impact and constructive engagement will be felt by the generality of all Nigerians.
The National Coordinator, Youth Wash Initiative Africa, Uchenna Oblakor on his own part stated that the initiative is borne out of the numerical advantage of the youth to work together in collaboration with the federal government to end open defecation.
Oblakor added that young people are more felt with the burden of open defecation and as such the great number of youth should work together to ensure that Nigeria is open defecation free by 2025.
Furthermore, he said the initiative will be driven to rural area in collaboration with the NYSC CDS group.
He added that if bottleneck such as bureaucracy in government is removed, Youth Wash Programmes and initiative will thrive.