‘88,000 practice open defecation; epidemic looms’ – Cross River LG raises alarm

By Emma Una, CALABAR
A local government council chairman in Cross River State, Dr. Fred Okem has bemoaned the high rate of open defecation by residents of the area and warned that an epidemic looms if the practice is not stopped.
Dr. Okem, the Chairman of Yala Local Government Area, said this while presenting the Cross River State law on Open Defecation to the councillors in the local government to adopt into a by-law.
He sated that the high rate of waterborne diseases in the area is due to the open defecation practice, and warned that after the six months grace granted by the law, any home without a toilet would be made to face the law.
“Yala was one of the first local government...