The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, has reaffirmed the commitment of the Federal Government towards eradicating open defecation nationwide by 2030 in line with the United Nations Convention.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mahmud Adams Kambari, who represented the Minister, revealed this recently in Abuja during a press briefing with the global theme: Sanitation in a Changing World, We’ll Always Need the Toilet.

Balarabe lamented that 4.2 billion people globally live without safe toilets, while over 45 million Nigerians still practice open defecation, adding that only about 25 per cent of the population has access to safely managed sanitation facilities.

He noted that the 2025 WTD theme reflects the growing impacts of climate change, rapid urbanisation and widening inequalities that weaken sanitation systems.

The Minister called on sub-nationals to prioritise the provision of toilets and the effective management of waste to enhance environmental health, explaining that lack of toilets and poor waste management contribute significantly to diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and intestinal worm infections, which continue to claim lives—especially among children below the age of five.

Mrs Sushmita of the Centre for Science and Environment, India, pledged the support of their centre to mitigate open defecation and promote environmental sustainability in Nigeria.

In her welcome address, the Director of Pollution Control and Environmental Health (PC/EH), Bahijjah Abubakar, who represented the Permanent Secretary, noted that millions globally still lack access to safe toilets, while many continue to practice open defecation.

The Permanent Secretary stated that open defecation poses serious health and environmental risks, especially to women, children and other vulnerable groups, as poor sanitation fuels the spread of diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid, which remain major causes of illness and death among children under five.

The Registrar of the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON), Dr Yakubu Mohammed Baba, in his goodwill message, called for urgent inclusive action on sanitation, stressing that inadequate access to safe toilets remains a major challenge amid climate change, population growth, urbanisation and social inequality.

Yakubu maintained that toilets are not ordinary facilities but essential markers of public health, human dignity and social progress.

Also, the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Dr Abubakar Ahmed Kende, emphasised the constant necessity of sanitation as a human right despite global challenges and called for urgent action to expand access to safely managed sanitation in a world affected by aging infrastructure, rising demand, climate change and widening inequality.

Kende reiterated:
“We live in a changing world marked by innovation, migration, economic changes and climate uncertainty. In fact, one thing remains constant—we will always need the toilet for convenience and dignity.”