The Environmenta; Health Officer's Registration Council of Nigeria has lamented that no city in the country has a functional sewage treatment plant, resulting in 

indiscriminate disposal of raw faeces in many bodies of water across the country by unscrupulous sewage vendors.

Registrar of the council, Mr Augustine Ebisike, said only Asokoro, Wuse and Maitama districts in Abuja city centre have functional sewages systems.

The consequence of this nationwide, he noted, was the "un-abating assault on our people by facal-oral diseases, resulting in huge medical bills and loss of income due to incessant illnesses."

He stated these in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the flag-off of a one-week training programme for Environmental/Sanitation Officers. The mandatory continued education programme also covered Litigation in environmental health, professional ethics, among others.

The registrar equally tasked states of the federation to invest in enviromental health by putting in place effective sanitation mechanisms through the engagement of professiona; environmental officers.

He said the number of environmental officers in Kwara State and other states is "abysmally very low" compared to the population, saying ample investment in environment would improve the health of the populace.

"We have failed to roll back malaria which the profession predicted from the start of the programme due to the emphasis on curative health instead of prevention Now, we have millions of bed nets imported for this purpose which have reached their end of shelf lives and are posing environmental health challenge with regards to their disposal," he said He restated that environmental health services had "drastucally deteriorated" due to the general neglect of preventive health by successive governments Ebiske stated further: "To worsen the situtation of environment health across the nation,state and local governments have for many years laid embargo on employment of Environmental Health Officers who are empowered by the law to enforce sanitation standards.