By Salisu K Ismail
Jigawa State House of Assembly has has passed a bill to ban open defecation in the state.
The House of Assembly presided over by the Speaker Honorable Idris Garba Jahun passed the bill during its plenary session on Tuesday to promote sanitation and public hygiene in the state.
The bill was brought for the 3rd reading by the chairman of House committee on water resources Hon. Haruna Aliyu Dangyatim and finally the House unanimously approved and pass it into law.
NEWSKEEPER gathered that, under the new bill, which will attract penalties on the defaulters, toilets facility must be provided at any house, factory or business centre that would be constructed as same is applied to the existing ones in the state.
Presenting the bill, the chairman House Committee on Water Resources Hon. Haruna Aliyu Dangyatin member representing Miga constituency, said, the bill was brought for third reading after consultation and collecting inputs from civil societies, professional, civil servants, religious leaders and other stakeholders.
"Defaulters can be sentence to one month imprisonment, committed to community service or minimum of five thousand Naira fine," he highlighted.
However, The lawmaker pointed out that, the bill has made a provision for the establishment of technical working committee in the state and local government level to support the implementation of the law prohibiting open defecation in the state.
Explaining more on the rationality behind the bill, the lawmaker said that, "The state has achieved over 92% provision of potable water, therefore a law must be established to check the menace of open defecation which is one of the contributing factor to perennial cholera outbreak and high rate of child death in the state."
He then declared that, when the bill is assented into law by Governor Muhammad Baduru it will enhance public and personal hygiene, reduce the spread of diseases and make the entire Jigawa state clean.
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