The Oyo State Government and the United Nations Children Education Fund have concluded plans to adopt more Local Government Areas in the state for the Open Defecation Free programme.

The Director of Sanitation, Oyo State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, Titilayo Obayemi, disclosed this in an interview on Tuesday in Ibadan.

Mrs Obayemi said Ibarapa-East Local Government Area in the state had been selected as the third local government that would be triggered for the ODF programme.

She described the selection process as competitive and transparent.

Mrs Obayemi noted that monitoring and other follow up programmes would continue at Egbeda and Ona Ara council areas that were initially triggered for the ODF programme.

She recalled that the state government in 2022 launched a road map on open defecation to avert its negative impact on health and wellness of the general citizens.

She noted that the road map would enable the state to plan on how the 33 LGAs in the state would be open defecation free by 2028.

Mrs Obayemi, however, described as worrisome the practice of open defecation in the state, noting that the government was doing everything possible to meet its target of open defecation free society by 2028.

“The state government started the ODF project in Egbeda and Ona Ara LGAs as pilots to end open defecation. We started with mobilisation of the stakeholders with the help of UNICEF and we have been able to trigger some of the communities within the LGAs.

“Out of 22 wards in Egbeda and Ona Ara LGAs, 15 have so far been triggered, eight in Egbeda and seven in Ona Ara LGAs. The project will be extended to the remaining wards this year. We have about 1,000 communities in the two council areas and we have triggered some of them to be open defecation free,” she said.

Mrs Obayemi commended UNICEF for its support for Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the state.

She, however, called for more donors and corporate organisations to support and complement government efforts in making the state open defecation free by 2028.

“We can run the ODF programme simultaneously across all the 33 LGAs in the state if we get adequate support. If we have more donors and required support, we are sure that Oyo State can become open defecation free before 2028,” she said.

(NAN)