The Jigawa State government has pledged to retain the state's open-defecation-free status.

Open defecation is one of the major environmental problems in Nigeria, with many rural houses built without toilets.

Those with toilets lack water to keep the facility clean, forcing rural dwellers to defecate in the open.

But efforts by several state governments with support from donor agencies had yielded significant results with many states attaining open-defecation-free status.

The Jigawa State Commissioner for Water Resources, Ibrahim Muhammad Garba, said the state was working tirelessly to retain the position.

Garba spoke while in an interview with newsmen in Kaduna on the sidelines of a meeting with members of the Jigawa State Technical Committee on Open Defecation and other stakeholders.

The Commissioner for Environment, Dr Nura Ibrahim Kazaure, attributed the problem of open defecation in Nigeria to the lack of environmental laws to enforce compliance.

Dr Kazaure said open defecation is a serious public health issue.

He said the current Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas, had said the ministry would ensure the enforcement of sanitary laws to help address open defecation in the country.

"What is happening is that there is no enforcement, no penalty, no imprisonment; we don't go the extra mile to ensure enforcement," he said.