The Oyo State Government, on Sunday, said it will do everything within its power to make the state cleaner and more habitable to attract more investments that will accelerate the pace of economic development in the Omituntun 2.0 mantra.

The state’s Commissioner for Environment and Natural Resources, Abdulmojeed Mogbonjubola disclosed this while speaking with journalists in commemoration of World Toilet Day at his office in Ibadan.

World Toilet Day is observed on November 19 of every year to create awareness of the need to have and use toilets as well as give people access to safely managed sanitation facilities.

This year’s campaign has the theme: ‘Accelerating Change: Taking Simple Actions to Bring about Change’.

The commissioner said the state would be open defecation-free before 2028, adding that there would be total enforcement of the open defecation law passed by the Oyo State House of Assembly.

He maintained that the government is keen on making sure the state is cleaner, adding that the state would begin to make toilets available across the 33 local government areas of the state, including motor parks, and public spaces.

The commissioner called on residents to support the state in its decision to make the state safe for tourism and socio-economic development.

The commissioner said “As of today, two local governments have been declared open defecation-free. They are the Egbeda and Ona-Ara local governments. The projection of Oyo State by 2028, the state will be open defecation-free but my projection is that by 2026, we should be able to achieve 60 to 70 per cent where we can have clean toilets in our parks clean toilets, in our public places, motor parks, schools, markets and others. But I can guarantee you that before 2026, we will achieve that. It is part of our agenda in sustainable development to build more toilets. His Excellency has provided for it. He has so many plans for that, and the governor has the help of all other organizations like the United Nations Children Fund {UNICEF} that has promised to us.

“Sanitation is basically cleaning your environment with waste disposal, both solid and liquid, and providing basic sanitation. As we are observing the World Toilet Day, We are calling on the people to come. We will enlighten people more on open defecation.”