The Lagos State Government on Tuesday engaged toilet operators across the State on the need to continually promote healthy sanitation practices in toilet management towards reducing open defecation to the barest minimum.
Speaking at the maiden edition of a one-day training workshop for the operators with the theme: “Best Practices in Public Toilet Management”, held at the JJT Park, Secretariat, Alausa, the Director of Sanitation Services, Office of Environmental Services, Dr. Hassan Sanuth, reiterated that the State Government is determined to eradicate the menace of open defecation by 2025.
He said the present administration has instituted four cardinal points of operation, namely Advocacy; Regularisation & Standardisation; Bridging the Gap & Monitoring; and Evaluation & Enforcement, adding that the workshop comes under Regularisation and Standardisation.
Affirming that the government, in collaboration with A-Mobile Group Academy, is determined to achieve zero tolerance regulation for open defecation and urination, Dr. Sanuth said the training became imperative for all public toilet operators across the State in order to teach new things that bring about excellence.
The Director, therefore, charged the participants to always ensure proper handling of the toilets as this would help reduce government and individual expenditure on the treatment of diseases while making more money available for other economic uses.
The Facilitator and Chief Operating Officer, A-Mobile Group Academy, Mrs. Damilola Oloruntade, in her lecture titled: “Best Practices in Toilet Management”, explained that toilet operators must collaborate with the government to curb the open defecation menace by building the toilet in accessible locations, employing trained staff, using appropriate tools, as well as employing legal waste disposal processes amongst others.
She said public toilet operators must be properly trained by an approved body and also follow rules laid down by the government always.
