The United Nations Children Education Fund UNICEF says it will continue to support the Borno state government to ensure all the twenty seven local governments achieve Open Defecation Free ODF status. UNICEF WASH Manager, Maiduguri Field Office Mamita Bora Thakkar made the commitment at a media briefing in Maiduguri. She explained that already, two local governments of Biu and Shani have been declared Open Defecation Free while Kwaya Kusar, Hawul and Bayo local governments will achieve the status by the first quarter of next year. "Borno state has made significant progress in getting the first two LGA (Biu and Shani) as Open Defecation Free, last year. This momentum need to be sustained, with accelerated efforts to bring more LGAs (Kwaya, Bayo, Hawul) under the ODF campaign " Mamita said. The UNICEF WASH Manager remarked that only 104 local governments out the 774 local governments in the county have been validated Open Defecation Free. She called on the state government to invest more in capacity building of WASH community members, ensure access to sanitation facilities and create a culture where use of toilet becomes social norms. Mamita Bora added in a effort to achieve the 2025 target, 271,000 people have been reached with handwashing behaviour change programmes, forty schools equipped with WASH facilities and twenty healthcare facilities also equipped with WASH facilities in the North East region.