The Federal Ministry of Water Resources on Monday said more than 46 million Nigerians practice open defecation, a figure which is considered to be the highest in the world.

The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Husseini Adama made the revelation during the official celebration of the Local-Government-Wide-Open-Defecation-Free status by Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State under the Sanitation, Hygiene and Water in Nigeria (SHAWN) project in Dass town.

Represented by Musa Ibrahim, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, the minister said more than two-thirds of Nigerians were living without access to basic sanitation facilities, adding that efforts by past administrations to address the situation did not yield the desired results.

Adama commended UNICEF and the United Kingdom for supporting the implementation of the SHAWN project in Nigeria which he said had so far been implemented in 70 local government areas of the six target states of Bauchi, Benue, Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa and Nasarawa. The minister then revealed that the project had been further extended to include 100 local government areas in eight states.