A 12-year-old girl has been reported dead after she fell into a pit toilet in Asin-Ekiti, in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
According to a witness, Mrs Ruth Bamidele, the victim, Blessing was running errands for her parents on Monday, September 19 when the sad incident occurred.
Speaking with newsmen on Thursday, September 22, Bamidele said Blessing mistakenly stepped on the weak concrete covering the pit and fell inside it, with nobody close by to help.
Blessing's parents raised an alarm on Monday night after she failed to return home, beginning a search which continued till the next morning.
“One of the neighbours in search of the missing girl noticed the collapsed lid of the pit toilet in a residential building situated behind the Alasin palace.
“A lifeless body was sighted inside the pit and was later brought out; it was the missing girl and the incident threw the entire community into mourning,” she said.
Reacting to Blessing's death, the head of the Environment Department of the Ikole Local Government Council, Mr Tunde Famuyisan, warned all landlords within the area to put uncompleted or damaged pit latrines in good shape.
Famuyisan added that a directive has been given for all sanitary inspectors in the area to move from house to house in a bid to ensure that every residential building in the area has functional toilets.
He also pleaded with residents report failure to fix damaged latrine toilets to the council workers, so as to detect houses with unsafe pit toilets.
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