Lawyers, on the platform of the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), have fixed Tuesday, March 13, 2018 as protest date against what they term “excessive and arbitrary tax regime” in Lagos State, if after seven days Governor Akinwunmi Ambode failed to reverse new charges under the Land Use Charge Law 2018.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State
Speaking on the planned protest during a press briefing on Wednesday, March 7, the Chairman of the Branch, Mr. Adesina Ogunlana, said the protest march would start from the Branch Secretariat in Ikeja all the way to the Lagos State Secretariat in Alausa. The protest, he added, is tagged: “Hell Tax Must Go”.
Ogunlana said the Branch was set to begin the first phase of critical and constructive response to the “decidedly insensitive, provocative arbitrary and parochial tax agenda programme and meltudily” against the Ambode administration.
His words: “Few weeks ago, Lagosians woke up to learn about the hyper-inflated rate of the so called ‘Land Use Charge’ which the Governor of Lagos has escalated upwards by 400 percent.
“Recently, one of our colleagues who regularly pays the sum of under N140,000 as LUC for office building received a notice of the LUC demand, he is now to pay the amount of N2 million.
“If these tax rates are allowed, Lagos State would be turned into a ‘Toxic Environment and a living hell’ for Lagosians.”
Ogunlana said that the increase in property tax of the LUC would have an adverse effect on all other services and function in Lagos as owners of properties and services will automatically transfer other financial burdens to their customers who will have to bear the burden or crumble.
He opined that it is absurd that the governor is seeking dialogue after its government had “deliberately and selfishly” created the situation in the first instance.
“My view is that the government of Lagos State has lost sync with the difficult and harsh realities of life of the people of Lagos and has taken their support and goodwill for his government for granted.”
Ogunlana demands for a scrapping of the new tax regime.
“Life will become not only too expensive but volatile and dangerous.
“The government cannot hide under ‘Developing Lagos into a Mega Smart City2 to kill Lagosians with pharaoic taxes,” he said.
The Lagos State Government on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 clarified the figures circulating in the media on the rates for the newly reviewed Land Use Charge Law of 2018, saying many of the numbers were based on several years of arrears on the levy not paid by affected property owners.
L-R: Special Adviser to the Governor on Taxation and Revenue, Mr. Fola Lasisi; Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade; his counterpart for Information & Strategy, Mr. Kehinde Bamigbetan and Special Adviser to the Governor on Information & Strategy, Mr. Idowu Ajanaku, during a press conference on Land Use Charge at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, on Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Speaking at a news briefing held at the Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre in Alausa, Ikeja, the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Kehinde Bamigbetan, said there were so many misconceptions and misinformation about the new law, adding that the law was a progressive enactment duly made by the House of Assembly and handed over to the Executive for implementation in the overall interest of the people.
He specifically dismissed the figures being bandied about on the social media, describing them as humongous, and saying many of the calculations were based on arrears of many years of non-payment.
“The fact is that this law took a long process to be made. It started as a bill and went through the first reading, second reading, public hearing to which all stakeholders were brought together to debate it and some of the relieves we have seen were part of the debate expressed by the stakeholders about the need to protect the vulnerable segment of the society. Having made the law, the Lagos State House of Assembly has handed it over to the executive to implement.
“The second important part is that a lot of relieves have been built into the law but many people are confusing arrears with the actual figure. If you see those figures, ask whether it is for one year or arrears of several years of non-payment. The humongous figures that are being bandied around particularly in the social media relate to the arrears of many years of non-payment which are computed together,” Bamigbetan said.
Also speaking, Commissioner for Finance, Mr Akinyemi Ashade, said the government has extended the period for tax payers to enjoy the 15 per cent discount in the reviewed Land Use Charge Law to April 14, 2018 in order to enable the implementation and enforcement of the new law, as well as allow many property owners to benefit from the discount.
Ashade, who took time to clarify reactions in some section of the public on the new law, said that, under the old law, which had not been reviewed for over 15 years since 2001, the Land Use Charge rate was totally inaccurate and retrogressive and was depriving the state of keeping track of all economic activities that relate to land in Lagos State.
He said the rates, which were reviewed by the Lagos State House of Assembly and signed into law by the State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, on February 8, 2018, is a merger of all property and land-based rates and charges in the state.
Ashade said: “There was an urgent need for the repeal, as the old law had not been reviewed for over 15 years since 2001. Under the old law, the LUC rate was totally inaccurate and retrogressive which deprived the state of keeping track of all economic activities that relate to land in Lagos State.
“The new law is a consolidation of Ground Rent, Tenement Rate, and Neighbourhood Improvement Levy. This charge is payable annually in respect of all real estate properties in the State, which means owners and occupiers holding a lease to a property for 10 years or more are now liable to pay the annual LUC invoice charged.
“Thus, the Tenement Rates Law, the Land Based Rates Law, the Neighbourhood Improvement Charge and all other similar Property Rates or Charges, Laws or amendments to any such property Laws shall cease to apply to any property in Lagos State as from 2018. Nonetheless, all pending invoices, orders, rules, regulations, etc. under the 2001 repealed Law shall continue to be in effect until such obligations are discharged.”
Explaining the calculation of amount payable, the Commissioner said that property owners can determine the amount by multiplying the Market Value of their property by the Applicable Relief Rate of 40 per cent and Annual Charge rate.
“Upon receiving a notice or not, the new law has made it possible for owners to calculate their charge, and enable prompt payment, which allows them to benefit from a 15% discount for early payment, applicable to payments made within 15 days of receipt of Demand Notice,” he said.
Responding to fears of tenants that the new law might force landlords to increase rent, Ashade said aside the fact that the Lagos State Tenancy Law 2011 was still in force, the incidence of payment for Land Use Charge under the new law is on the landlord and not the tenant.
He said the minimum rate was only increased from N1,200 it was in 2001 to N5,000, while there is provision for self-assessment and Assessment Appeal Tribunal under the new law.
On vacant properties, Ashade said such would be treated based on owner-occupier and not as a commercial property, explaining that the target of government is to make commercial property owners to pay a little bit more.
An Igbosere High Court in Lagos on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 gave a two-week ultimatum to the Lagos State Government and the incorporated trustees, Association of Waste Managers of Nigeria, otherwise known as Private Sector Participation (PSP) operators, to settle out of court.
Thomas Forgacs, Chief Operations Officer, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions; Abiodun Bamgboye, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment; Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, Lagos State Commissioner for Environment; Babatunde Hunpe, Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Environment; John Irvine, Chief Executive Officer, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions; Bamidele Garko, Chief Executive Officer, Bamitony and Company, Ikoyi; and Lanre Wilton-Wawdell, Chief Executive Officer, Cleanway Limited at the Waste Collections Operators Participation meeting at the Ministry of Environment office, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the PSP operators filed the suit, seeking to stop the Lagos State Government from relieving them of their job of managing domestic waste in the state.
They claimed that the state government had planned to take their job and give it to a foreign company – Visionscape Sanitation Solutions Ltd.
Joined in the suit as respondents are the Commissioner for Environment and the Attorney-General/Commissioner for Justice.
Others are Visionscape Group, Visionscape Sanitation Solutions Ltd and ABC Sanitation Solutions Ltd.
At the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, Counsel to the PSP operators, Mr Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, said the parties had been meeting to settle the case, but there were still issues that needed to be resolved.
Adegboruwa said the PSP operators were interested in keeping the state clean, but on certain conditions and terms that were acceptable to its members and the state government.
He said the operators did not want a situation where foreigners would displace them and render them jobless; but at the same time, they would ensure that Lagos was kept clean.
According to him, the parties have opportunities to exchange terms of settlement but the major issue is that of domestic waste.
“The waste of people in the residential areas, because of the volume and the number of the members, is critical to our settlement.
“We have been in discussion with the Attorney-General. We believe that some Fifth Columists are responsible for the delay of this settlement.
“We believe that government will be sincere in addressing the fundamental issues that relate to domestic waste.
“We appeal to our members, especially the PSP, to continue to keep the work of cleaning Lagos, picking waste and disposing them and not allow any sabotage in the Cleaner Lagos Initiative,” he said.
Adegboruwa said if government had given the PSP operators the same support accorded Visionscape in form of soft loans and trucks, waste would not be seen in Lagos State.
“We felt frustrated that we have been doing the job meritoriously for years and, now, a foreigner has come, with the intention that we are not capable.”
Responding, Justice Taofiquat Oyekan-Abdullahi said substantive progress had been made, but there was need to get every party on the same page for a resolution.
To that extent, Oyekan-Abdullahi gave directive on schedules of meetings to be held between the PSP operators and the Lagos State Government, Visionscape and ABC Solutions.
She directed the parties to meet on March 10, March 14, and March 16 to resolve all pending issues.
The judge said the parties should fill all terms reached on March 20, while the court would adopt the resolution on March 22.
The E-Waste Relief Foundation, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has canvassed for greater advocacy on the dangers posed by electronic waste to the environment .
E-waste
President of the Foundation, Mr Ifeanyi Ochonogor, who made the call at the inaugural meeting of the organisation‘s Board of Trustees (BoT) on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 in Lagos, warned that the threat of e-waste to the environment must be tackled urgently.
Ochonogor said that the foundation was conceived with the objective of ensuring safe disposal of electronic waste in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region.
“Nigeria alone generates about 1.1 million tonnes of e-waste annually.
“ Therefore, it is only through sensitising the people and training the informal handlers of e-waste on standards of operation that Nigeria can successfully tackle the issue.
“There is a great need for a foundation driven by passion to aid in solving the e-waste problems within the country and beyond.
“We are charged with the task of educating people on the dangers of improper e-waste management as well as enlightening them on the right solutions that are available to stop the crisis at hand.
“It is in making people understand the threat we face that they saw reasons to join us in the process of putting an end to the e-waste challenges that beset us,” Ochonogor said.
Ochonogor said that a recent report published by the United Nations forecasts that global electronic waste would likely increase to 50 million metric tonnes in 2018.
Ahead of and during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, Germany, in May 2018, youth from all over the world will be able to raise their voices and play an active role in helping to raise ambition to tackle climate change.
Participants of the Conference of Youth COY 11 in Paris. COY 12 focused on the role of education and capacity building in empowering young people to take action on climate change and to bring about positive change in society
Youth from all over the world are invited to participate in the Action for Climate Empowerment Youth Forum, taking place on April 29, in Bonn, Germany. Youth from developing countries that are seeking funding for participation have been enjoined by the UN to apply for a scholarship now.
The aim of the Forum, say the organisers, is to effectively engage young people in negotiations on Action for Climate Empowerment (ACE), which focuses on education, training, public awareness, public participation, public access to information and international cooperation. Additionally, the outputs of the event will be presented during a special ACE Workshop which will coincide with the negotiations at the Bonn Climate Change Conference, holding from April 30 to May 10, 2018).
Out of the hundreds of expected participants for the Forum, about 40 young people from the countries of the Global South will receive ACE Youth Forum Scholarships, which include complete funding and support for participation in the event. Applications for the scholarships can be submitted by March 12 by via the official website.
“In every corner of the globe, governments, cities, the private sector and civil society are framing that future around three crucial questions – Where are we? Where do we want to go? And How Will We get There?” says Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary of UN Climate Change (UNFCCC).
“The Youth Forum, the brainchild of the COP23 Fijian Presidency, is youth’s opportunity to provide their unique vision for answering these questions. In doing so, they can help be architects of the next phase of the Paris Agreement as nations look to get further and faster on track to a climate safe century,” she added.
Youth is already leading concrete action on how to tackle climate change. Two young climate activists from India and Morocco, for example, were selected last year as the winners of the 3rd edition of the Global Youth Video Competition.
Adarsh Prathap, from India, was the winner for the category “Oceans and climate change”, with the video “Let mangroves recover”, which underlines the importance of mangroves and shows how their conservation can save thousands of lives.
Younes Lamsaoui, from Morocco, won the category “Climate friendly and resilient cities”, with the production “Turning green”. The video highlights how Marrakech, or the “red city”, is responding to the challenges of climate change and how she is contributing to this transition.
Participants of the ACE Youth Forum will also have the opportunity to share stories of their climate action experiences, exchange best practices and lessons learned relating to the components of ACE, in addition to developing creative and effective ACE-related climate actions.
The ACE Youth Forum is an initiative of the Presidency of the 23rd UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) and YOUNGO (the official youth constituency to UN Climate Change), in partnership with the Government of Canada, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Climate Change.
Climate Scorecard on Wednesday, March 7, 2018 launched the Global Spotlight Project aimed at helping the Paris Agreement achieve its important goals.
Jubilation greeted the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015 in Paris, France. Photo credit: unfccc.int
According to Climate Scorecard Co- Founders, Ron Israel or Lois Barber, the campaign is launched against the background of recent scientific studies that suggest that existing country pledges to the Paris Agreement are insufficient to prevent the planet from exceeding the 2 degree Celsius global warming tipping point.
They pointed out that the Global Spotlight Project supports citizen and organisational-based efforts to advocate that countries fully comply with and strengthen their Paris Agreement pledges.
“The campaign provides citizens around the world with monthly News Briefs and Action Alert messages about what countries are or are not doing to further their commitment to the Paris Agreement. The Global Spotlight Project seeks to form a global alliance of civil society, business, and policy research organisations, working together to persuade leading greenhouse gas emitting countries to strengthen their Paris Agreement pledges,” Israel and Barber noted.
In conjunction with the Global Spotlight Project, a new Climate Scorecard website is now live. The site is designed to engage citizens around the world in advocating for countries to increase their compliance with Paris Agreement goals and objectives.
“If we want to prevent climate change from causing irreparable damage to our planet, all countries must fully implement and strengthen their nationally determined contributions pledges to the Paris Agreement,” said Israel and Barber.
The Paris Agreement’s aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016.
Pressure appears to be mounting on the Lagos State Government over its newly introduced Land Use Charge Law, in respect of which charges therein are said to be on the high side and are being contested by certain quarters.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State
State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has been defending the charges, saying however that government is ready to dialogue on the matter.
On Tuesday, March 6, 2018, the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) appealed to the Lagos government to reverse its current increment of land use charges to ensure the survival of the manufacturing sector.
Dr Frank Jacobs, MAN President, made the plea in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Jacobs said that the sudden rise in the land use charges in the state could lead to the collapse of the already burdened manufacturing sector.
The Lagos State Government had recently repealed its 2001 Land Use Charge Law and replaced it with a new Land Use Charge Law, 2018 to increase its internally generated revenue and continue to expand its tax base.
The state government had explained that the recent increase in the land use charge would provide more resources to the state to provide social services and infrastructure to the benefit of the general public.
It also extended the period for the payment of all annual Land Use Charge (LUC) Demand Notices for 2018, to Saturday, April 14, 2018.
This, it said, is to enable property owners and affected occupiers to take the option of enjoying the discounts available for the prompt and early payment of LUC invoices.
However, controversy had trailed the review of the land use charge as the Organised Private Sector (OPS) rejected the newly passed LUC Law, vowing to fight the law with every legal means at its disposal.
Jacobs said that the state government ought to have consulted widely before considering the implementation of the new charges law.
“The stakeholders in the manufacturing sector were not carried along adequately before the execution of the policy as the sector is already contending with a lot of challenges.
“One of the challenges of this policy is that, if allowed to stand, other states in the country will soon begin their own increment of the land use charges,’’ he said.
The MAN president said that the increase, if not reversed, would also make the cost of finished commodity to be too exorbitant for Lagosians to afford.
“The new charges can make our locally produced commodities to be too expensive compare to imported products.
“The new charge negates the Federal Government’s initiatives for the spread of locally manufacturing companies in the country,’’ he said.
But Governor Ambode has offered reasons for the reviewed charges, saying that Lagosians need to make sacrifices in the light of the level and cost of infrastructure being provided by government.
His words: “So, somebody comes and say we have increased by 400%. The question is the 400% of what? You were paying N10,000 before, now we say you should pay N50,000 and you are calculating and turning statistics upside down by saying it is 400%.”
He explained that while the revised Land Use Charge Law requires owner-occupiers to pay “just” 0.076 per cent, pensioners, churches, mosques, non-governmental organisations and government institutions are exempted from payment.
Ambode added: “The law was made in 2001. It provides that, every five years, we should review it and also find a way to increase. Fifteen years after in 2017, the law has never been reviewed. Now, the question is this: those who are having commercial properties, the rental income they were getting in 2002 as against the rental income they are getting in 2017, is it the same? The level of infrastructure that existed in 2002 as against what has happened in the last 15 years, are they the same? Did it not come at a cost?
“So, why is the market value of the property that you built with N1 million, 15 years after, you are selling at N20 million? Why do you think somebody who is a buyer will pay N20 million for it? Is it not because of the facilities around the property? So, we have to sacrifice; that is how it works everywhere.”
United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, on Monday, March 5, 2018 announced the appointment of Michael R. Bloomberg of the United States as his Special Envoy for Climate Action.
Michael Bloomberg
Mr. Bloomberg will support the Secretary-General’s climate strategy and efforts toward the planned 2019 Climate Summit at the UN Headquarters, says Guterres’ office, adding that the 2019 Climate Summit will mobilise stronger and more ambitious action towards 2020 climate targets.
The Special Envoy will leverage efforts in key areas of the Climate Summit to encourage rapid and enhanced implementation of the Paris Agreement in the context of sustainable development.
The Secretary-General will be engaging and inviting leaders from governments, businesses, finance and civil society organisations with a view to bending the emissions curve by 2020 and accelerating the implementation of the Paris Agreement. The Secretary-General and Mr. Bloomberg, the UN says, share the perspective that the emissions gap needs to be closed soon to limit global temperature increase to below 2 degrees Celsius. Climate Action, including those by cities and sub-national actors, play an essential role in driving ambition on climate change, it adds.
Mr. Bloomberg, alongside Governor Jerry Brown of California State, also launched the America’s Pledge initiative, which will aggregate and quantify the actions of states, cities and businesses and other non-national actors in the United States to drive down their greenhouse gas emissions, consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Mr. Bloomberg served as the 108th Mayor of the City of New York from 2002 to 2013. He began his career in 1966 at Salomon Brothers, and launched the financial news and information company Bloomberg LP in 1981. In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg addressed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali, Indonesia.
He was appointed as UN Special Envoy on Cities and Climate Change on January 31, 2014 by the then Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon. In December 2015, Mr. Bloomberg was appointed by the Chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). The Task Force – which has finished its work – has developed voluntary, climate-related financial disclosures for use by companies in providing information to lenders, insurers, investors and other stakeholders.
On Monday, Bloomberg said he hoped Trump would change his mind.
“And if that’s the case, that shows a great leader who, when facts change, and they recognise something different, they’re not bound to what they did before, they’re willing to change,” he said.
“And its fair to say this president does change his views – generally it’s one day to the next, but over a longer period of time.”
Gueterres said: “Very little depends today in relation to climate change, on central government.
“The world has those that follow and those that lead. And those that lead, some lead in the wrong direction and some lead in the right direction.
“Mr. Bloomberg is of those that lead and have always led in the right direction and it is an enormous privilege for me to be able to work closely with you.”
Academic and environmental expert, Prof. Haruna Ayuba, has proposed evaporation suppression as an alternative technique of restoring Lake Chad to save it from extinction.
Prof. Haruna Ayuba
Ayuba, who teaches at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), made the proposal in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
He said that water transfer was the first option in restoring the lake, adding that this would require the movement of water from another river.
‘‘Suppressing evaporation can also help in the restoration of Lake Chad. We live in the tropics and we receive much water from rainfall.
‘‘The water disappears through evaporation; we can suppress the evaporation which is the amount of moisture that goes up into the atmosphere.
‘‘Part of the reasons for the drying up of Lake Chad is the high rate of evaporation of water,” he opined.
The don said that there was need to create more awareness through stakeholders on how to devise measures to save the shrinking of the lake.
‘‘Climate change is a developmental issue, every hand must be on deck.
‘‘We need to build capacity, tell people the signs of climate change, because some people don’t understand that.
‘‘We need all the experts, stakeholders to develop a policy framework that people need to follow,” he said.
Similarly, he said that science and technology, if properly utilised by indigenous scientists, could ameliorate the challenges of restoring the lake.
According to him, development of science and technology in the country is still laid-back, adding that there is lack of a strategic plan to build the sector.
He decried lack of equipment in tertiary institutions for the study of science-related courses, adding that it remained the bedrock of technology development.
Ayuba noted that polytechnics in the country, which were established to drive the technology sector, had been allegedly disregarded.
‘‘We have also killed our polytechnics; the polytechnics are supposed to help in building the technical manpower in the country.
‘‘Now, the emphasis is on paper qualification, even those who graduate from polytechnics are coming to take degrees all over again,” he said.
He stressed the need for the nation to lay serious emphasis on practical application of acquired knowledge as against the present craze for paper qualifications.
NAN reports that Lake Chad Basin’s 25,000 square kilometres size in the 1960s had shrunk to 2,500 square kilometres in 2000.
The Federal Government is set to launch a National Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) fund to address the challenges of poor hygiene in the country.
Participants at the event
The Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, disclosed this at the opening of the 6th National Conference on Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) Conference in Bauchi on Tuesday, March 6, 2018.
Adamu, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Musa Ibrahim, said the ministry was also working to inaugurate a presidential campaign to eliminate open defecation practice in the country.
He noted that over the years, significant progress had been achieved in the provision of safe water supply while the sanitation component was still on the decline.
The minister said that optimal benefit from the provision of water supply could be obtained without the complementing efforts of promotion of sanitation and hygiene practices.
“The ministry is proposing to set up a National WASH Fund slated to take-off by the middle of the year which interested states can access in improving their institutions and infrastructures.
“Plans are also on to launch a national campaign to eliminate open defecation; all these efforts are intended to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals on water and sanitation by 2030.”
Adamu said it was the Federal Government’s desire to see that every state government demonstrated the same political will towards improving the WASH situation of their citizens.
He said doing this lead to reduction in water and sanitation morbidity and mortality, especially among under-five children, and the overall goal of improving the well-being of the society.
The minister commended the National Task Group on Sanitation and other development partners for their role in scaling up efforts to WASH, adding that this was evident with the success recorded in Local Government Areas in Bauchi and Cross River states.
Also speaking, Bauchi State Deputy Gov., Nuhu Gidado, applauded the Federal Government`s efforts in the fight against open defecation and promoting hygiene practices.
He said that the state government was working with development partners to evolve innovative approaches to sustain progress recorded in the water and sanitation sector.
Gidado said these efforts were obvious with the provision of Solar-powered lights to all boarding schools.
He said that ensuring the availability of a functional sanitation facility, would aid hygiene promotion and overall disease prevention.
He expressed the hope that Warji Local Government would soon be declared open defecation-free with the progress it had recorded in partnership with the state rural water supply and sanitation agency and development partners.
In a goodwill message, Mr Nanpet Chuktu said that ending open defecation was a collective effort, adding that saying that all tiers of government must collaborate to make this a reality.
He said that the impact of poor sanitation was evident, with frequent hospitalisation from preventable water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid.
Chuktu said with the progress recorded in Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi, it was obvious that Nigeria could meet its National Roadmap for ending open defecation by 2025 and the SDGs goal six with sustained commitment.
Mr Peter Ojonuba, an official from the Federal Ministry of Education, urged all stakeholders to support schools by providing WASH facilities to reduce disease prevention and promote school attendance.
He said the place of WASH in the country could be over-emphasised as it impacts on health, education and development.
According to him, CLTS is an effective approach to promote sanitation and hygiene practices.
Ojonuba added that the National School Health Policy emphasised that creating a healthy and safe learning environment required adequate access to safe water supply, sanitation and hygiene facilities.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the objective of the CLTS conference is to sensitise relevant stakeholders on progress made and what steps could be taken to improve sanitation and hygiene in the country.
