Abuja – The Abuja Environmental Protection Board (AEPB) has advised residents of Abuja to desist from open defecation and cultivate the habit of using toilet facilities to avoid spread of diseases.

Mrs Kate Ocheze, AEPB’s Assistant Director, Environmental Health and Safety, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.

Echeze said that human waste, if not properly managed, posed a serious threat to public health and the environment.

She said that in spite of the health hazards associated with open defecation, many residents of some slums in Abuja still indulged in the act.

“Human excreta is a major threat to public health and the environment if not properly managed through provision of toilet facilities.

“Many people end up in hospitals as a result of consuming water contaminated by faecal water or untreated sewage,” she said.

The assistant director said that the absence of public toilets for Abuja residents would endanger the capital city and advised business owners to allow the public to use their toilet facilities as a social responsibility.

“If toilet facilities are not adequately provided in the FCT, the territory would risk being polluted, resulting in a rise in preventable diseases such as cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea and polio among others,” she said.

“Some people residing in the suburbs of FCT sleep in shopping malls, markets and under the bridges and they end up polluting the city by defecating and urinating into drains and open spaces.

“The need for corporate outfits to provide toilets for public use should therefore be encouraged to prevent environmental pollution,’’ she said.

Echeze advised residents to collaborate with the FCT administration in its campaign to eradicate polio and other preventable diseases by avoiding the culture of open and indiscriminate defecation.

– NAN