By ABEL JOHNGOLD ORHERUATA
The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to end open defecation, improve access to water and good hygiene to all Nigerians within the shortest possible time.
The Director General (D-G) of National Orientation Agency (NOA), Dr. Garba Abari, gave this indication while speaking in a One day Capacity Building Workshop organized for Community Orientation and Mobilization Officers (COMOs) of National Orientation Agency (NOA) on “Open Defecation Free (ODF) Nigeria” in Asaba, Delta State on Monday, 28 September, 2020.
The NOA D-G who was represented by the Delta State Director Mr. Christopher Uche Anyabuine, disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari signed an Executive Order 009 (E009) on Wednesday November 20, 2019 to tackle the menace of open defecations in Nigeria with projection on a time line of 2025 and urged the National and State Assemblies to enact laws, sanctions and penalties to deal with offenders.
Abari added that report available to NOA from World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other joint monitoring team shows that one in every four Nigerians, about 47 Million people practice open defecations due to lack of toilet facilities, an action, considered crude, primitive and uncivilized especially in this 21st century of human civilization.
“Its on this note that necessitated NOA with a mandate to sensitize, mobilize, and orientate the Nigerian populace on government programmes, policies and activities to collaborate with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to ensure the actualisation of the presidential project of ODF in Nigeria by 2025, a vision that requires our collective mission.” Abari submitted.
The NOA D-G charged the participants of the training to stepdown the ODF to everyone in their locality.
In his remarks, the Honourable Minister of Federal Ministry of Water Resources (FMWR) Engr. Suleiman Adamu represented by Mrs. Ugoji Clara Adamma, a Chief Technical Officer at the FMWR, said statistics indicate that more than forty million Nigerians lacked access to toilet facilities thereby engaging in open defecation.
According to him, the Ministry having realized the strategic role of the National Orientation Agency in reaching out to Nigerians embarked on partnership to adequately sensitize the populace.
Similarly, the Delta State Commissioner for Water Resources, Rt. Hon. Martin Okonta, represented by Engr. Blessing Edevwor, Director of Quality Control and Sanitation, stated that Delta State always leveraged on every developmental programs coming from the Federal Government.
While commending NOA for the collaboration, Okonta disclosed that the Delta State Government through his Ministry had keyed into the Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Rural Water Supply Agency (RUWASA), Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) and UNICEF sanitization programs.
Making her presentation, the representative of NOA Abuja Headquarters, Anita Maryann Ukamaka stated that as part of the effort to drive home the President’s mandate, the agency and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources chose Delta State as one of the states to launch the campaign.
Ukamaka added that one of the series of activities to achieve the objectives of the campaign was to build the capacity of the COMOs who would drive the sentisation campaign in communities on the need to abandon the practice of Open defecation and make their communities ODF free.
Addressing newsmen, the Deputy Director of NOA Delta State, Comrade Tracy Oduduru Ikolomi stated that the Order empowers States and Councils to adopt measures to prevent open defecation and gave an assurance that the NOA would embark on aggressive campaign against the practice in the twenty five local government areas of the State.
While appealing to Nigerians to join the campaign to end the menace before year 2025 deadline, Ikolomi noted that Nigeria is the giant of Africa, and we were taking leads in everything. But one thing we would not like to take a lead was Nigeria stepping into number one position in open defecation.
Also speaking, NOA Assistant Director in Charge of Admin, Supply and Human Resources in Delta State, Mrs. Patricia Nkirueika Umunna appealed to the general public to team up to construct affordable toilets, water systems that would be use for sanitation and ending open defecations.
While pointing out the need to encourage the practice of sanitizing and mobilizing families so that they can contribute to build the kind of toilet they can afford, Umunna called for stakeholders and we’ll meaning Nigerians to team up to build water system, toilets facilities family to families and to communities which they could afford.
According to Umunna, “in the past, open defecations was not glaring, guided by religion that time but it escalated at a later time, you find people even defecating, especially in the riverine areas free- of- charge inside water.”