In Ilorin, the Kwara government has sealed a residential building for practicing open defecation

The state government sealed a residential building in the Agba-Dam area of Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, on Thursday for practicing open defecation.

According to the DAILY POST, this is part of a crusade against open defecation, which the state government describes as a threat to environmental health.

After the concerned landlord failed to comply with the notices previously issued to him, Alhaji Sa’ad Ayinla Dan-Musa, General Manager of the Kwara State Environmental Protection Agency, KWEPA, issued the order.

Addressing the tenants of the affected residential building, Deputy Director of Environment, Mrs Adetotun Oluwumi Taiwo, Head of KWEPA’s Waste and Sanitation Department, said, “The building is uninhabitable for the occupants because there are no toilet facilities in place, which is harmful to everyone’s health.”

“We are here because it is the state government’s responsibility to protect the health of the state’s citizens and residents,” the agency’s Press Secretary, Adejoke Adekunle, said in a statement.

The landlord of the affected residential building does not have the tenants’ best interests at heart, according to the statement, or he would have provided toilet facilities and a good soak-away system.

Officials advised tenants to look for standard toilet facilities in any houses they might want to rent before paying in the near future, because open defecation is still one of the most common ways for diseases to spread.