The Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District, Kola Balogun, has charged individuals and government agencies on ensuring cleanliness, stressing the importance of a clean environment to national economic growth.
Senator Balogun gave the charge while speaking at a public hearing on a Bill on open urination and defecation which was declared open in Abuja, on Monday, December 6, 2021.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr Dapo Falade, on Wednesday, December 8, the Senator said that the persistent act of open defecation and urination is anti-thetical to the quest to have a clean environment.
“Cleanliness, they say is next to Godliness. Not only that, cleanliness is also what you need as a nation to grow your economy and to attract foreign investment because your environment is the first thing they would notice on arrival in your country,” he said.
Senator Balogun lamented that in spite of several interventions and existence of several government agencies, the country was still witnessing increasing cases of open defecation and urination.
He called for increased efforts on the part of the government at all levels and other stakeholders to ensure total eradication of, or reduction to the barest minimum, cases of open defecation and urination, as a measure to have a clean environment for the economy to thrive.
“In spite of all the functions of the agencies, we want to know why the country is still where we are in terms of open defecation and open urination.
“We should try as a government to suspend duplication of efforts in all our sectors, especially when you look at a particular direction that has agencies that are functioning, but we are not getting the desired results.
“So, any other additional effort, to my mind, may not be a misplaced position of government. With all that we have on ground, why do we still have environmental issues in our country?
“Our desire is for an economy that will give the best to the people of this country if we have what it takes. You keep saying we have what it takes, (but) what would it take to give us the desired result?
“Each year; year-in, year out, you come to the National Assembly, seeking approval for your budgetary provision. Why have you not made this particular aspect a priority in your budget request?
“This is because we sit back here and listen to you tell us we have what it takes and yet we are not getting the desired result. We are not convinced from this side of the aisle,” he said.
