A Civil Society Organization, the Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Development Awareness (CESDA), is sensitising residents of Abuja suburbs on sanitation and good hygiene.

The move is aimed at curbing poor sanitation and hygiene practices in Abuja suburbs.

CESDA is an advocacy group established to promote good governance, development and defence of the human ecosystem.

In a statement issued by Olusola Babalola, the executive director of the non-profit, on Wednesday and made available to The ICIR, the group said the intervention began in the Nyanya area of Abuja.

Olusola said Nyanya is a “settlement characterised by endless traffic challenges and poor hygiene and environmental sanitation practices”.

“The intervention is to combat the menace of poor hygiene and sanitation practices effectively; there is a need for proper orientation among the populace, increase in government budgetary allocations to water sanitation and hygiene sector to shore up toilet facilities and proper waste management system as well as a public-private partnership to be able to cater for toilet deficit in our communities effectively.”

The group first carried out the month-long intervention on Monday, April 3, and will resume on April 25 with the prosecution of offenders while the clean-up exercise is ongoing.

“Prior to this, markets, parks and shop owners have been issued abatement letters well ahead of time, warning them to ensure that facilities and the environment are put in good shape,” she said.

“During the tour in Nyanya that lasted four days, the state of the community sanitation was in total shambles, with the toilet facilities broken down, with coloured stinking water dripping from the pipes inches away from the facilities due to overuse. The refuse was indiscriminately disposed of with no proper waste disposal plan. The ground was littered with both solid and liquid wastes.

“In addition, the drainages, pavement or bridge columns are used as makeshift toilets when people are pressed. Traders and motorists, as well as pedestrians, have converted such areas into a place for defecation which are often littered with human faeces, among other refuse.”