The Lagos State Government on Thursday hired public restroom operators to continuously promote hygienic sanitation practises in public restroom management throughout the state as part of its efforts to eradicate open defecation and urination.
Dr Omobolaji Gaji, the permanent secretary of the office of environmental services, reiterated that the state government is committed to eliminating the problem of open defecation in the state by 2025 while speaking at the second iteration of the training workshop for public restroom operators held in Ikeja, Lagos.
He stated that one of the goals of the one-day training is to increase the capacity of toilet operators so that the state's public restrooms are cleaner, more hygienic, and safer.
Gaji, represented by the Director of Sanitation Services, Dr Hassan Sanuth, said the state government has four cardinal points of operation which include advocacy; regularization and standardization; bridging the gap and monitoring, evaluation & enforcement, saying that the training workshop comes under regularization and standardization.
The Permanent Secretary said the training provides an opportunity for stakeholders to engage and communicate the government’s desire and requirements to operators in the sector, adding that the government in collaboration with other organisations, remains determined to achieve zero-tolerance regulation for open defecation and urination.
Gaji said in order to become successful in rendering services, learning new things must be a way of life and mastery of the business brings excellence, adding that public toilet operators must engage in best practices in toilet management and must be properly trained by the approved body following government’s laid down rules.
He recalled that the government inaugurated an anti-open defecation squad some years back, according to the environmental laws of the state for non-complying members of the public and as such toilet operators must adhere to proper toilet management to avoid any form of sanctions from the government.
He charged the toilet operators to always ensure proper handling of the toilets as this would help reduce government and individual expenditure on the treatment of diseases and thereby make more money available for other economic uses.
In his lecture titled “public toilet provision management, a panacea to healthy living,” the facilitator, Sanitarian Dr Cyril Babasope described the public toilet as a convenient facility that plays an essential role in both human health and environmental health.
He said the vision of the Lagos state government to ensure adequate and conducive public toilets in the state was laudable bearing in mind that 116 million out of the 250 million population of Nigeria do not have access to decent toilets.
He enjoined public toilet operators to collaborate with the government in order to curb open defecation menace by establishing toilets in an accessible location, employing trained staff, using appropriate tools, as well as employ legal waste disposal processes amongst others.