08 April 2025

Use of Toilets or Nothing Else in Vandeikya, Benue State

Vandeikya Local Government Area (LGA) in Benue State is ready to embrace use of toilets, as they embark on LGA wide sensitization as the people vow to realize their ODF status in a short span of time. What is happening here is that we have received visitors to our community who are giving us more information throu...
19 November 2024

Vice President Shettima Launches Campaign to End Open Defecation in Nigeria by 2030

ABUJA, 19 November 2024, – In a significant move to commemorate World Toilet Day, Nigeria's Vice President has officially launched the revised Clean Nigeria Campaign (CNC) Strategic Plan, reaffirming the nation’s commitment to eradicate open defecation by 2030. Government officials, international organisations, an...
31 May 2024

Why Hauwa no longer misses school

15-year-old Hauwa Yakubu is a proud owner of six reusable pads. The schoolgirl who lives in Gashua, a bustling town in northeast Nigeria keeps her pile in a clean nylon sack tucked inside a wooden box in her room. These are her most prized possessions. Made from local cotton fabric and a slice of waterproof foam, ...
15 February 2023

Sanitation business is good business

When Odigbo Moses Edo first heard of SATO pans, he was a trader who sold cement and mattresses in Ainu Council Ward, Oju Local Government Area, Benue State, north-central Nigeria. Going about his daily business and activities, he often wondered how he could contribute to making his environment cleaner in his own l...
19 November 2022

Sanitation vouchers bring toilets to families in north-west Nigeria

At his home in Maradun north, Zamfara state,75-year-old Malam Jibo Gumawa shows you his new toilet which is a source of pride to him and his family. They will no longer defecate in the open. Having a toilet may seem a normal thing to those with the means, but for poor families with little income, that’s a tall ord...
19 November 2022

Use the toilet, end open defecation

Igbo-etiti, Enugu State,, 19 November 2022, - Sweating profusely under a mango tree, 28-year-old ThankGod Ugwuotu has just finished a series of trainings and demonstrations in the proper use of toilets in Ama Uwani Ikolo in Igbo Etiti Local Government Area of Enugu State. ThankGod Ugwuotu is one of the newly recr...
19 November 2021

Preserving dignity for people living with disabilities with toilets

Haruna Abdulsalam thrived as a farmer and part-time commercial motorcyclist in Baga, his village in north-east Nigeria. But that was before 2016, when armed groups invaded his village. The father of five was hiding in the bush, trying to escape the invaders, when a snake bit his left leg. Complications from the ve...
19 November 2021

Toilets help keep children, especially girls, in school

Benue State, Nigeria, 19 November 2021, – In many communities in Benue State, Nigeria, children are helping to drive positive change by promoting toilet use among their peers. Over a billion people defecate in the open globally, because they simply don't have a toilet available. In Nigeria, 46 million people defec...
19 November 2021

World Toilet Day sees limited progress in Nigerians’ access to sanitation services

ABUJA,, 19 November, 202, 1, – As the world celebrates World Toilet Day, UNICEF today revealed that there has been limited progress over the last two years in the fight against open defecation in Nigeria. According to new figures soon to be released on Nigerians’ access to water, sanitation and hygiene services, t...
19 November 2021

A community’s journey to ending open defecation

20-year-old Sunday Peter beamed from ear to ear as he washed his hands with water from the recently installed borehole in his community. For Sunday, having access to clean water and seeing his community abandoning the practice of open defecation is a dream come true and releases years of pent-up fears. “I always ...
15 October 2021

On Global Handwashing Day, UNICEF warns that 3 in 5 Nigerians do not have basic handwashing facilities at home to fight off infectious diseases

Abuja, 15 October 2021, – Although handwashing with soap is critical in the fight against infectious diseases, including COVID-19, only 16 per cent of Nigerians have access to basic handwashing facilities at home – leaving families and communities at risk of many infectious diseases, with children particularly vul...
15 July 2021

Young people rally to put an end to open defecation in West and Central Africa

DAKAR/ACCRA/ABUJA, 15 July 2021, – Young people aged 10-24 in Ghana and Nigeria are embarking today on a hackathon journey that will give them the opportunity to share their promising ideas and innovative solutions to end open defecation in their communities. Young people are mobilized to put an end to this widespread practice which exacerbates malnutrition and contributes to…