'Over 25 Million Nigerians Lack Toilet Facilities'

MORE than 25 million  Nigerians lack toilet facility, the Minister of Environment, Mrs. Hadiza Mailafia, has said.

She spoke at the 2012 celebration of National Environment Sanitation Day in Abuja at the weekend.

Mailafa said: “Over 15 percent of Nigerians don’t have access to toilet facilities, therefore making them urinate and defecate by the walls of buildings and on streets respectively. 

‘’55 percent of Nigerians make use of pit latrines and only 30 percent have good toilet facilities.”

She lamented poor hygiene in Nigeria, saying it has adversely contributed to the nation’s record on high mortality rate.

Malaifa identified unhealthy environment as a major cause of children’s medical problem such as cholera among others.

The minister noted that the Federal Government (FG) has completed plans to avert airport, seaport trans-boundary diseases.