Over 2,000 investors have applied to build public toilets in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), out of who 300 have been granted approval to commence the building of such facilities.
The FCT Rural Water Supply Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) disclosed this yesterday at a workshop on Female-Friendly Toilet (FFT) validation.
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The Head of Sanitation of RUWASA, Aisha Barkpet, who presented a report on FFT, however, regretted that with the 300 approved contractors, only 10 toilets had been built so far, with works ongoing at 65 other sites.
Barkpet, who noted that RUWASA had a target of 2023 to eradicate open defecation in the FCT, bemoaned lack of cooperation among relevant agencies like schools and medical facilities, adding that such a target would be difficult to achieve when women and children of school age were not carried along.
Earlier, Nneka Akwunwa, who represented WaterAid, observed that a lot had been said about ending open defecation in Nigeria, but that not much had been put in place for women and children, and so expressed WaterAid’s desire to support any effort that would ensure good hygiene in the country.
City & Crime reports that the one-day workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders to interact and ask questions regarding public toilets, especially as they relate to female-friendly ones being planned to be built in the nation’s capital.